Pandemic Report: Detecting long-term damage | Faster COVID testing | Vaccine efficacy

Detecting long-haul Covid-19 damage

Polarean Imaging plc., located in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, published a study in which it used a drug-device combination to confirm lung damage in patients who had mild COVID-19 months after their hospital discharges. The company designs and manufactures equipment for production of hyperpolarized xenon or helium gas, which in conjunction with MRI, offer a non-invasive and precise imaging platform.

COVID-19 test results in 15 seconds

A Northwestern University spinoff has received $21.3 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to ramp up production of a COVID-19 testing device it developed that only takes 15 minutes to produce a result. Called DASH (Diagnostic Analyzer for Specific Hybridization), the device uses a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique that amplifies DNA, increasing incredibly small virus samples to detectable levels.

Vaccine development takeaways

Aaron Fisk, the general manager of St. Cloud, Minnesota’s Microbiologics’ Virology division, talks with the Medical Alley Association about takeaways from the development process around COVID-19 vaccines and how this will affect future vaccine creation.

COVID-19 and computer simulations

Two Miami University studies shed light on COVID-19 interventions and vaccine efficacy. The studies used computer simulations to track the behavior of more than 500,000 virtual agents as they interacted with others in different contexts, like home work or community.