A new bacteriophage-based rapid test has the potential to identify the specific pathogen causing a urinary tract infection (UTI) at the point of care, enabling targeted use of antibiotics. The test uses naturally occurring phages identified as predators of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella and Enterococci that are genetically modified to make any bacterium they invade bioluminescent. In a proof-of-concept study, researchers at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, were able to reliably detect the pathogenic bacteria in a urine sample in less than four hours. That compares to the 18 – 30 hours it takes to culture samples in a central lab and to identify a specific microbe using conventional diagnostics.

US FDA’s proposal to reorganize Office of Regulatory Affairs not without pitfalls

The U.S. FDA has unveiled a proposal to once again reshuffle its operations, this time with a greater degree of emphasis on the function of the Office of Regulatory Affairs. Tim Philips, a consultant with Gardner Law and a former member of the FDA, told BioWorld that while these changes will likely yield some useful efficiencies, they might also dilute some of the more useful interaction between industry and FDA, a loss that may be keenly felt when it comes to matters such as FDA inspections.

FDA clears Magentiq-Eye’s AI software for colonoscopy

Magentiq-Eye Ltd received U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance for its Magentiq-Colo, an artificial intelligence software system that helps detect gastrointestinal lesions in real time during colonoscopy procedures. With the rate of colorectal cancer expected to increase steadily through the decade, the company hopes Magentiq-Colo will offer the gastroenterology community and its patients a significant increase in adenoma detection rates.

Beckman Coulter comes up short in appeal of US Army lab equipment contract

The U.S. Army needed 10 months to award a contract following a July 2022 request for proposals for flow cytometry and other clinical lab equipment, but Beckman Coulter Inc., filed an appeal that protested the award to Sysmex America. Beckman Coulter argued that Sysmex should have been disqualified from the bidding for failing to provide a technically acceptable proposal, but the Government Accountability Office decreed that the company’s protest failed because it was not filed within the required 10 days post-award.

Quality control protein has multiple protective roles in tauopathies

TRIMs or tripartite motif proteins are a group of quality control proteins that are found only in animals. One of their functions is to add ubiquitin tags to proteins, marking them for transport to the proteasome system. TRIMs are part of the innate antiviral defense system. But in the July 27, 2023, issue of Science, researchers reported that TRIM11 interacts with tau protein in multiple ways that were beneficial in preventing tauopathies. A commentary published alongside the paper, noted that the work “highlights TRIM11 as a potential therapeutic target for ameliorating tau-associated neurodegeneration.”

Also in the news

Abbott, Alpenglow Biosciences, Anuncia Medical, Asep, Enspire DBS Therapy, BD, Etiometry, Flow Neuroscience, Fractyl Health, Imperative Care, Lungevity, New Day Diagnostics, Peijia Medical, Quansys Biosciences, Signify Health, Sirius Medical, Sitero, Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies, Vitrolife