A special issue of leading infectious diseases journal Clinical Infectious Diseases , published this month, features advances in tuberculosis sample preparation and sequencing developed by Wave 80 scientists in collaboration with leading tuberculosis researchers and clinicians.
Using Liquid Micropiston (LMP) technology, the Wave 80-led team has begun to produce exciting results around processing complex sputum samples and precisely characterizing TB strains based on consensus sequences. The LMP-based TB sample prep method can be readily implemented in disposable, fully enclosed cartridges designed for use with a variety of molecular diagnostics platforms, including a next-generation version of the EOSCAPE platform jointly developed by Wave 80 and researchers at Boston University and the Fraunhofer Institute.
Cartridge-integrated sample prep modules, which are less than three cubic centimeters in size and interface seamlessly with downstream cartridge components, perform the critical function of extracting DNA and RNA from the complex sample matrices which are to undergo analysis in the cartridge. Samples which can be processed range from whole blood to urine to sputum, as well as non-human material for environmental and food safety testing.
Among the groups collaborating on the project are UCSF’s Luke Davis and Adithya Cattamanchi and University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston’s Janice Endsley .
