NIBIB in the News

Lung autopsy and plasma samples from people who died of COVID-19 have provided a clearer picture of how the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads and damages lung tissue. NIH scientists and their collaborators say the information, published in Science Translational Medicine, could help predict severe and prolonged COVID-19 cases, particularly among high-risk people, and inform effective treatments. Read more at NIH.gov.

In Ann Arbor, Mich., as in many other cities across the country, you’d be hard-pressed to find a rapid Covid-19 test today — they’re not available at the nearby Walmart or at local pharmacies. Source:  STAT.

The National Institutes of Health's Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics initiative announced on Thursday that it has awarded $77.7 million to develop and manufacture 12 new rapid diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2. Source: Genomeweb

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, doesn’t always cause symptoms, but people who have asymptomatic infections can unknowingly spread the disease. These asymptomatic infections may cause up to half of the viral spread in the United States. Source: NIH.gov

National Institutes of Health Common Fund’s Bridge2AI Program Will Build Ethical, Inclusive, and Interpretable Data Sets.

National Institutes of Health Common Fund’s Bridge2AI Program Will Build Ethical, Inclusive, and Interpretable Data Sets.

In this year's edition of the Minnies, AuntMinnie.com recognizes excellence in radiology. Dr. Judy Gichoya, 2021 DATA Scholar at NIBIB and Fogarty International Institute, and an Emory University assistant professor is one of the finalists for Most Influential Radiology Researcher. Source AuntMinnie.com.

Duke Engineering’s First-Year Design program team triumphed at the NIH’s 9th annual DEBUT Challenge. The team’s project, named LowCostomy, received the National Cancer Institute Prize for Technologies for Cancer Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment. The team received $15,000 in prize money in recognition for their work. Source: Duke University.

The RADx program has paved a path forward for small- and medium-sized diagnostics companies with innovative ideas and novel technologies to help meet public health challenges and compete in the marketplace. A funded network of agile academic or private laboratories that can objectively evaluate novel clinical tests, whether they originate from the largest diagnostics companies or new startups, can provide impartial and cost-effective third-party assessments of test performance to facilitate FDA decision making. Source: Nature Biotechnology.

In an opinion piece, Roxanne Khamsi, a science journalist covering the COVID-19 pandemic, says that “throughout the pandemic, there have been various kinds of medical anomalies,” such as “people who test positive for months and others who never get infected despite living in close quarters with Covid sufferers.” Khamsi writes that “such surprising cases are often declared ‘outliers’ and shrugged off (and, indeed, should be downplayed when designing public health policies for the general population), but unusual examples of any disease can offer important insights for scientists, and most critically, lead to new medicines for that illness and others.” NIBIB immunologist Kaitlyn Sadtler is quoted as saying, “The complexity of the immune system cannot be overstated. ... It makes it amazingly effective but amazingly difficult to understand.” Source: New York Times