- Press center
- Articles
Articles
Application Note – Enhancing mNGS with Small Volume Samples
30 April 2023
Collecting large volumes of biospecimen such as CSF or vitreous humour fluid can be challenging. Micronbrane developed a modified protocol of effective processing for scarce liquid biopsy using the Devin™ filter. This protocol is followed by the case study on processing clinical samples of 50 μL (0.05ml) vitreous humour fluid. Learn more about how the Devin™ filter enhances detection efficiency with the PaRTI-Seq™ workflow in this Application Note.
A Streamlined Way to Facilitate Pathogen Detection
18 October 2022
Certain epidemiological contexts require robust, versatile and on-demand approaches for pathogen detection that entail minimal logistical and financial constraints. These approaches are increasingly sought after as first-line solutions for the identification and surveillance of pathogen outbreaks, namely in contexts of epidemics and pandemics in low-income countries or remote regions, as well integrated in the context of emergency readiness protocols.
Human methylated DNA removal method and comparison with Devin®
15 April 2022
Nowadays there are several methods of human DNA removal, including differential cell size-based methods, chemical/enzymatic treatment methods etc. In this article we overview human methylated DNA removal methods and compare their efficacy with recently launched Devin® filter from Micronbrane Medical.
Differential lysis depletion methods – drawbacks, shortcomings and alternatives
29 March 2022
Current diagnosis and research protocols use lysis depletion to avoid host DNA interference and further detect the pathogen involved in infectious diseases. But are all lysis depletion methods just as efficient in reducing host DNA and preserving the microbial community intact? Let's find out how most host DNA depletion methods work compared to the newly developed ones.
How ZISC technology improves leukodepletion
21 March 2022
Biofouling resistance of PP membranes is significantly improved with surface zwitterionization for leukocyte reduction filters. Micronbrane enhanced this technique and developed zwitterionic interface ultra-self-assemble coating technology (global patent) used in Devin filter. The developed membrane can remove more than 95% of nucleated cells from whole blood samples within just 5 minutes. Let's see how it works.
Biochemical and Genetic Basis of Antimicrobial Resistance
14 March 2022
Many threatening pathogens are now resistant to multiple classes of antimicrobial agents. A study tested 500 Streptomyces strains isolated from soil against 21 antibiotics of different class found that all the strains were multidrug resistant to at least 7 of the tested antibiotics (D’Costa et al., 2006). These multidrug-resistant (MDR) organisms cause infections that may compromise effective therapy and limit treatment options.
mNGS to Diagnose Culture-negative Endocarditis
7 March 2022
Infective endocarditis is inflammation of endocardium that usually affects heart valves. Mortality rate of the disease is up to 30% in 1st year for many malignant cancers. The most common risk factors for infective endocarditis include previous heart damage, recent heart surgery or poor dental hygiene. According to report of National Organization for Rare Diseases, people over the age of 50 with prosthetic heart valves or cardiac pacemakers are more prone to develop endocarditis.
Is cfDNA an effective tool for rapid diagnostics of infectious diseases
1 March 2022
Many DNA sequences, including cfDNA fragments, are species-specific and with the development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, these molecules have been described as a promising, non-invasive tool for the early detection of several human diseases, including sepsis for which the latest research have reported significantly elevated fractions of cfDNA from retrotransposable elements in blood.
Whole Blood Pathogen Detection for Antibiotic Resistance Genes Identification
17 February 2022
It has been nearly two years since the global healthcare resources have been diverted into the prolonged fight against the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, often being forced to put other medical issues and emergencies on hold. Aside from the undeniable threat of the COVID-19 crisis, there are other urgent challenges to the health of the general population, such as the accelerating development of resistance to antimicrobials, seen among many harmful pathogens.
Microorganisms pathogenicity and virulence
9 February 2022
Medicine and medical technology have evolved rapidly in the past decades. Infectious diseases that were once impossible to confirm can now be diagnosed and cured efficiently. Unfortunately, in the face of advanced treatment, microorganism pathogenicity and virulence grew stronger to survive. Severe infections still take medical professionals into a race against time to accurately diagnose pathogenic microorganisms and treat patients with the right antimicrobial drug.
Pathogens Detection via MALDI-TOF MS Technology
26 January 2022
One of the most commonly used methods for microbial identification is 18S and 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing. Currently a new technology, MALDI-TOF MS (matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrophotometry) has emerged as a potential technique for the diagnosis of microbes in clinical specimens. This technique is very rapid, has high specificity and sensitivity as compared to other conventional methods of pathogen identification. Microbiologists have used this technique not only for diagnostic purposes but also in epidemiological studies, strain identification and typing, detection of toxins, identification of biological warfare agents, water, and foodborne pathogen, detection of antimicrobial resistance, and identification of urinary tract and blood pathogen.
Opportunistic Fungal Infections and how mNGS can Help
19 January 2022
What are opportunistic fungi? Opportunistic fungi are a group of fungi that cause secondary infections in those vulnerable individuals whose immune system is compromised by a pathogen that caused some primary infection. These fungi usually don’t cause diseases in normal healthy individuals and target immunocompromised people only, often causing some serious even life-threatening secondary infections.
DNA barcoding and its use to identify different pathogens
11 January 2022
Identifying pathogens down to the species level is vital for the proper treatment of diseases. However, many pathogens (like several species of fungi and bacteria) are obligate parasites and cannot be cultured in a lab. The ones that can be grown in a lab are hard to identify compared to higher animals because morphological identification of microbes leads to errors. Medically important parasites are also hard to identify using morphological methods.
CRISPR-Cas- An Insight to combat Infectious Diseases and other disorders
30 November 2021
Infectious diseases pose a major threat to public health and result in high morbidity and mortality. There is a need to rapidly diagnose and treat these infections to improve public health. For that purpose, a detailed understanding of interaction and host and pathogen (viruses, bacteria parasites fungi) is required.
How to detect a Staphylococcus aureus infection?
28 October 2021
Staphylococcus aureus infections affect up to 20% to 30% of the human population worldwide. Staphylococcus is a family of bacteria, derived from the Greek word – Staphylo meaning grape-like, and coccus meaning berries. Sir Alexander Ogston discovered the Staphylococcus family in 1880 from pus in the injury. Later, Friedrich Julius in 1884, identified different species of Staphylococcus bacteria1. Staphylococcus aureus is a bacteria that render positive result on Gram stain test. Gram stain test is a common type of staining method to find out the presence of a particular species of bacteria.