The inner workings of a PCR test! Now that we’ve walked through the science of an antigen test, let’s do the same with a PCR test. This one doesn’t have a visual readout that you can see with your own eyes so it’s a bit more abstract – let’s dive in! PCR stands for polymeraseContinue reading “Inner Workings of a PCR Test”
Category Archives: Molecular Biology
The Inner Workings of an Antigen Test
The inner workings of an antigen test! I can almost guarantee every one of you have taken an antigen test recently or plan to in the very near future (this weekend perhaps??). I figured I’d take a second to explain how they work! What are those two pink lines (or hopefully only one!)? How doesContinue reading “The Inner Workings of an Antigen Test”
The Central Dogma
The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology describes the flow of genetic information. DNA encodes for RNA which encodes for protein. This post helps the lay the groundwork for understanding literally everything about protein production and is the first post in a series to introduce gene therapy – my field of expertise! Gene therapy has manyContinue reading “The Central Dogma”
Vaccine Components Do Not Last
If you’re worried about long-term vaccine effects, let’s talk about how quickly the components disappear from your system. I find this to be a very important but poorly understood aspect of vaccination. Vaccines introduce your body to the pathogen (or a piece/mimic of the pathogen) and then exit the picture. Your immune system takes overContinue reading “Vaccine Components Do Not Last”
COVID X Flu Testing
Can a pcr test diagnose both COVID-19 and Influenza? Yes! Recently an announcement by the CDC, withdrawing a SARS-CoV-2 pcr test for EUA FDA approval, has been spreading on the internet like wildfire with a very significant misinterpretation! People are saying that the withdrawal was because it could not differentiate between COVID-19 and the Flu…Continue reading “COVID X Flu Testing”
Tracking Variants
So many questions about how we track variants and if a PCR test is able to tell you if you have a Delta infection. @dr.berthahidalgo and I teamed up to walk you through how variants are identified. Key points:1️⃣ PCR testing is effective at telling you if you have COVID-19.2️⃣ Full genome sequencing is able to detectContinue reading “Tracking Variants”
Ab Tests X Vaccines
Discussing antibody tests and when to expect a positive result! When infected naturally with SARS-CoV-2, your body is exposed to all the viral proteins and will generally make antibodies against the two most immunogenic proteins – the Spike (S) protein and the Nucleocapsid (N) protein. In this case, any serology (antibody) test designed toContinue reading “Ab Tests X Vaccines”
501Y.V2
Today we’re talking about variant 501Y.V2, also known as B.1.351, also known as the variant that was originally identified in South Africa! Another variant that has concerned the world as it makes it way from country to country. Why? Because it has key mutations in the spike protein receptor binding domain that could have aContinue reading “501Y.V2”
Neutralizing Antibody Test – N501Y e.g.
Neutralizing Antibody Tests! What are they? These kind of assays evaluate how well a virus (or protein) is neutralized by a particular pool of antibodies! This is of particular interest this weekend because early, pre-print, data was just released, looking at the important SARS-CoV-2 mutation, N501Y. The big question has been if this mutation willContinue reading “Neutralizing Antibody Test – N501Y e.g.”
Polymerase Chain Reaction
A quick summary of PCR – Polymerase Chain Reaction! You have likely heard of it lately in regards to one of the types of SARS-CoV-2 detection tests. PCR is used to help amplify the DNA molecule associated with the virus (or other target of interest) until there is enough to detect and/or quantify. This techniqueContinue reading “Polymerase Chain Reaction”