Monitoring of viral infections such as with the SARS-CoV-2 virus was vital to detection and characterization of new variants before they became widespread and allowed public health agencies to deploy resources and develop policies in advance of new waves of the virus. I The ARTIC Network developed a panel of primers and a workflow for whole genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 using multiplex PCR. This became a popular strategy for sequencing. The ARTIC protocol generates overlapping PCR amplicons that span the SARS-CoV-2 genome using a defined multiplex PCR primer set. These were sequenced and mapped to the SARS-CoV-2 genome to generate a high quality consensus sequence of the variant in the sample. While ARTIC was developed for SARS-CoV-2, the protocol is readily adaptable to a wide array of viruses. Despite its clear utility, challenges arose for ARTIC: new variants would arise that the consensus primers would not recognize and all testing for those new variants would be compromised. Normalization of samples with high variation of starting template proved difficult and sequencing library preparation was not optimized for convenience, speed, or cost.  

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed Collimonas bacterial isolates Cal 1 and Cal 2 that demonstrate strong antifungal activity against economically important plant pathogens.

Organoid/brain slice immobilization for microelectrode arrays (MEAs) and organoid-on-chip platforms have traditionally depended on hydrogels, harp-style grids, or microfluidic confinement, each with its own set of pros and cons with respect to stability, standardization, and impact on electrophysiology. Hydrogels (e.g., Polyethylene glycol or PEG, extracellular matrix like Matrigel) are widely used to immobilize 3D neural tissues on MEAs. These are known to swell, drift, and alter mechanical microenvironments, which in turn modulate network firing, synchrony, and bursting behavior. Mechanical retention via harp slice grids or similar harp devices is a long-standing practice in acute brain slice and organoid electrophysiology. These devices are typically standardized, fragile, and poorly matched to diverse well and tissue geometries. ​Microfluidic organoid chips and specialized 3D MEAs (e.g., e-Flower, organoid-on-chip platforms) have recently emerged to enable hydrogel-free trapping/encapsulation of organoids for imaging and recordings, but they often require bespoke chip designs and overly complex flow control setups. There is a lack of geometry-agnostic devices for mechanically immobilizing diverse organoids on commercial MEAs that feature consistent stability, uniform and/or tailored contact, and with minimal perturbation of electrophysiological readouts.

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Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have created a technology that uses engineered polynucleotides to deliver both an antigen and an enzyme that breaks down amino acids. This approach is designed to boost long-lasting memory T-cell responses, providing stronger protection against infectious diseases and cancer.

An innovative brachytherapy applicator designed to deliver precise radiation to challenging gynecologic cancer sites while sparing healthy tissue.

The invention describes a platform technology that increases MHC presentation of oncogene derived peptide neoantigens that do not normally occur in the cell.  The platform has already been used to identify a method of increasing KRAS G12 D/V derived peptide presentation on MHC- I.

The ability to precisely control gene expression is fundamental to advancing biotechnology and medicine, yet designing functional synthetic promoters for eukaryotic cells remains a complex challenge. UC Berkeley researchers have developed a high-throughput platform for the generation and selection of synthetic transcriptional promoters. This technology utilizes expansive libraries of recombinant expression vectors to identify promoter sequences with optimized performance characteristics. By linking promoter sequence to measurable expression outputs, the method allows for the rapid discovery of highly functional, custom-tuned regulatory elements that are compatible with a variety of eukaryotic host systems.