Tactical Medicine News Blog

Researchers at MIT have created an oral mRNA delivery system that could provide an alternative to injectable mRNA vaccines. It could also enable RNA or DNA therapies that are intended to treat gastrointestinal diseases. mRNA has shown its therapeutic potential in spectacular f...

Researchers at Yale University created a wearable air sampler clip that can be worn on clothing and which can bind aerosols present in the environment. The clip can later be analyzed to determine the level of SARS-CoV-2 exposure while it was worn. The low-cost, battery-free te...

Researchers at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed a method to isolate intact lysosomes from cells. The technique is rapid and produces samples of high purity. Lysosomes are the garbage-disposal organelles within a cell, and they are involved ...

Researchers at MIT have designed a quantum sensor to detect SARS-CoV-2. While the device is still theoretical, the researchers have used mathematical simulations to show its potential, and the data and design indicate that it may be faster, more accurate, and less expensive th...

Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in Germany have developed a light-activated form of the enzymes that power the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. The assay has gained recent fame among the general public because of its use as a COVID-19 diagnostic too...

Researchers at Brown University have developed a breath test for COVID-19. The breathalyzer, which they have termed the Bubbler, consists of a tube that someone blows into for fifteen seconds. The tube contains a mix of enzymes that reverse transcribe the RNA in viral particle...

Genetic modification offers huge potential in treating a wide variety of conditions, but the devil is in the details. Previously explored methods to deliver genes into cells, such as using viral vectors, have been connected with safety issues. As such, the potential of gene th...

Researchers at the University of California San Diego developed a new delivery technique for mRNA. The method involves flu virus-inspired nanoparticles that can escape endosomes, the acidic vesicles that engulf and destroy materials that attempt to enter cells. The nanoparticl...

Scientists at Johns Hopkins used a combination of molecular labeling and imaging techniques to create a three-dimensional map of the blood vessels in the mouse skull. Their approach also reveals niches where stem cell populations lurk, which could help researchers to understan...

Achiko, a company based in Switzerland, has developed AptameX, a saliva-based rapid COVID-19 test. The technology is based on DNA aptamers that are bound to gold nanoparticles. On binding with a viral protein the gold nanoparticles are released, causing a measurable color chan...