Date: 29 August 2023
Talk 1: HOLMES: Next generation molecular diagnostic system based on CRISPR technology
Speaker: Jin Wang
Abstract
CRISPR diagnostic technology is known as the “next generation diagnostic technology” due to its advantages of specificity, sensitivity, and simplicity. The HOLMES system developed based on Cas12 can combine with constant temperature amplification technology to leverage the advantages of fast and accurate detection, making it very suitable for application scenarios such as nucleic acid self testing. In addition, HOLMES technology can also be used for rapid detection of non nucleic acid targets, further expanding the application range of CRISPR diagnostic technology.
Biography
Wang Jin, PhD, CEO of Tolo Port Biotechnology Co., Ltd., National Youqing. His team first discovered the ssDNA transcleavage activity of CRISPR/Cas12 protein in 2017, developed the HOLMES nucleic acid rapid detection system, and obtained the underlying patent for Cas12 diagnostic technology. Under his promotion, Tolo Harbor Biotech reached a patent cross licensing cooperation with Sherlock Biosciences in 2020 for Cas12 and Cas13 diagnostic technologies in the Chinese and American markets. In November 2022, the two sides further signed a global cooperation agreement on CRISPR diagnostic “patent cross licensing”, thereby completing the comprehensive layout of Tolo Harbor Biology’s underlying methodological patents in the CRISPR testing field. At present, he is leading Tolo Harbor Biotechnology in promoting the application of CRISPR diagnostic technology in molecular POCT, clinical infection detection, early screening and accompanying diagnosis of tumors, and home testing. Tolo Harbor Biology is also working together with in vitro diagnostic peers to promote the rapid development of the CRISPR diagnostic industry.
Talk 2: Development of Innovative Enzymes and Application of Novel Molecular Diagnostic Technology
Speaker: Zhonglei Li
Abstract
In recent years, the research of synthetic biology in the field of protein functional materials has become a hot topic. Common protein products include recombinant proteins, antibodies, enzymes and so on, which can be used for drug development, biological scientific research experiments, diagnostic reagent development, disease treatment and the like. Looking back on the history of life science technology and medical molecular diagnostic technology, each iteration of technology has benefited from the discovery and application of new protein raw materials and new diagnostic tool enzymes. However, these core raw materials and their derived diagnostic technologies are mostly derived from developed countries such as Europe and the United States, such as the CRISPR(Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)/Cas system that has attracted high attention in recent years. The performance indexes of molecular diagnostic technology are getting better and better. In this report, I will share some of our team’s work on the development of new molecular diagnostic technologies and tool enzymes, including the development of enzyme molecular evolution engineering technology system, which has formed important inventions on diagnostic enzymes, especially the novel coronavirus diagnostic enzymes in the rapid transformation of performance, high-quality enzyme preparation process and biological detection application key technologies. The report focuses on showing that the programmable Ago nucleic acid detection system, as a new generation of molecular diagnostic technology, can achieve modular design in nucleic acid enrichment and detection, compatible with and improve the performance of existing genetic detection technologies (PCR technology, sequencing technology, nucleic acid mass spectrometry and molecular hybridization technology, etc.). A-STAR gene enrichment and detection technology has been applied to the development of rapid detection reagents for SNV, SNP and other types of low-abundance mutant genes. RADAR high sensitivity rapid nucleic acid detection technology can be used for rapid detection and typing of a variety of latent infectious pathogens. The A-STAR/RADAR platform technology has the advantages of simple design, high sensitivity, fast speed and multiple detection. The new diagnostic tool enzyme can widely empower the existing PCR market, help NGS sequencing medicine, nucleic acid mass spectrometry medicine, etc., “reduce cost and increase efficiency”, and promote the development of new detection technologies and kits.
Biography
Dr. Li Zhonglei is an Assistant Researcher in the Life Science and Technology School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Co-founder and General Manager of Jiaohong Biotechnology (Shanghai) limited company. He received his Ph.D. degree from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2017.From 2017 to 2021, he conducted postdoctoral research in the School of Life Science and Technology of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and continued to promote the industrialization of the project and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, whose team focuses on the research of molecular enzymology and synthetic biology. With the support of the National Key Basic Research and Development Program (973 Program), major projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and key projects of the Natural Science Foundation, the mysteries of efficient enzyme catalysis were explored from multiple perspectives such as enzyme catalysis, stability and substrate selectivity. Some new strategies such as enzyme directed evolution and rational design have been developed to create evolutionary enzymes with significant functional changes, which have been applied in important drug synthesis. In recent years, it has also been committed to the research of new microbial gene editing enzymes, and established new technologies for precise targeted nucleic acid detection to help detect the low abundance of nucleic acid markers for major diseases and evaluate the efficacy. Dr. Li have been engaged in molecular biology, pathogenic microbiology and molecular enzymology research for a long time. Participated in more than 10 key projects of the National Nature Foundation and major international cooperation projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and participated in 5 provincial and municipal scientific research development and promotion projects; He has published more than 10 academic papers and won the first prize of Shanghai Technology Invention in 2023. 15 invention patents have been applied for, and 8 invention patents have been authorized.
Talk 3: Point-of-Care and Plant Diagnostics by Connected Smartphone Sensors
Speaker: Qingshan Wei
Abstract
Smartphone-based optical imaging and sensing devices are among the next-generation biosensors that have shown great potential to transform the field of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics. With the rapid improvement of hardware (e.g., lens, image sensor, and CPU), smartphone has become a transformative microscopy and sensing platform that can support various detection or biomedical measurement applications, especially for resource-limited settings. On the other side, smartphone diagnostics can maximize its potential for early disease detection by coupling with specific molecular assays, such as nucleic acid amplification tests and immunoassays. This talk will highlight our recent effort in creating advanced smartphone-based biosensor platforms and the integration of smartphone device with CRISPR assay to generate a new POC diagnostic platform. An unexpected trans-cleavage behavior of Cas12a against double-stranded DNA substrates was recently discovered, which greatly eases the design of CRISPR-Dx reporter molecules. Promising applications ranging from POC diagnostics of human diseases to in-field detection of plant pathogens will also be illustrated.
Biography
Qingshan Wei is an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and a member of the Emerging Plant Disease and Global Food Security Cluster at NC State. He received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Purdue University in 2012, and completed postdoctoral training in the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Bioengineering at UCLA between 2012-2016. His research interests focus on developing novel diagnostic assays and sensors for point-of-care detection of human and plant diseases. He is the recipient of the Goodnight Early Career Innovator Award (2023), NSF CAREER Award (2020), and Nano Research Young Innovator Award in NanoBiotech (2018).
Talk 4: System solution of microfluidic molecular POCT platform
Speaker: Yamei Peng
Abstract
In nucleic acid analysis, qPCR has the characteristics of high sensitivity and quantification, and is of great value in the diagnosis of infectious diseases, reproductive health and genetic diseases, early screening of tumors and concomitant diagnosis. However, due to the complex analysis process and aerosol pollution problems of qPCR, as well as the stringent professional requirements for laboratory physical partition environment, instruments, operators and so on, the technology is more used in professional laboratories, and it is difficult to meet the point-of-care testing needs of “fully closed, fully integrated, high-throughput, on-the-spot inspection”. Based on the above pain points, in recent years, researchers and enterprise scientists have vigorously developed molecular POCT technology, which integrates the whole process of nucleic acid analysis from extraction to amplification and detection. Microfluidic technology has become the key technology platform of molecular POCT because of its low consumption, miniaturization and integration. TinkerBio is committed to providing the IVD industry with CDMO overall solutions for microfluidic products from design and development to production and manufacturing, and has many years of development experience and successful cases in the field of microfluidic molecular POCT.This report will first introduce the current market layout of microfluidic molecular POCT products, and then analyze the technical route of current representative molecular POCT products based on microfluidic chip and nucleic acid detection technology, and further discuss the key technologies of molecular POCT product development combined with TinkerBio Microfluidic Platform. Microfluidic molecular POCT will be an important part of the next generation molecular diagnostic technology platform in terms of product form, technological advantages and market demand.
Biography
Yamei Peng, R&D Director of Hangzhou TinkerBio Technology Co., Ltd., Doctor of Science. She graduated from Zhejiang University, majoring in analytical chemistry, and her tutor is Professor Fang Qun, a famous expert in microfluidics. Dr. Peng has also worked at Dian Diagnostics Group Co., Ltd.. She is a postdoctoral fellow jointly trained by Tsinghua University and the Yangtze River Delta Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Zhejiang Province, and her co-tutor is Academician Sui Senfang. She has presided over a number of POCT product development projects based on microfluidic technology platform, especially the products applied in the field of IVD molecular diagnosis (nucleic acid detection). She has rich experience in the design, development and conversion of microfluidic POCT system, and has comprehensive knowledge reserves of reagent methodology, optical detection system and microfluidic chip. She has applied for more than 10 patents for microfluidic technology, and has been granted 7 patents for inventions and utility models in China.
Talk 5: Smartphone-based Mobile Detection Platform for Rapid Molecular Diagnostics and Spatiotemporal Disease Mapping
Speaker: Jinzhao Song
Abstract
Rapid, quantitative molecular diagnostics in the field, at home, and in resource poor settings is needed for evidence-based disease management, control, and prevention. Conventional molecular diagnostics requires extensive sample preparation, sophisticated instruments, and trained personnel, restricting their use to centralized laboratories. To overcome the limitations of laboratory-based procedures, we designed a series of simple, inexpensive, hand-held, smartphone-based mobile detection platforms, for rapid, connected, and quantitative detection of pathogens’ nucleic acids. We anticipate that our methods will improve quality of health care in regions lacking sophisticated laboratories and enable patients to assume greater responsibility for their care.
Biography
Jinzhao Song, a researcher of the Institute of Basic Medicine and Oncology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences/Cancer Hospital Affiliated to the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Zhejiang Cancer Hospital), and a double professor of the Hangzhou Institute of Advanced Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, graduated from the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences with a doctor’s degree. Since 2013, I have been conducting postdoctoral research at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering. Before returning to China, he served as a research assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania. As an independent PI and co PI, he successfully received funding from two research projects, NIH K01 and NIH R21, as well as an entrepreneurship incubation fund, with a total amount of~1.3 million US dollars. He was also awarded the NIH “Scientist Development Award” and the American Society of Clinical Chemistry “Precision Medicine Young Scientist Award”. He has long been committed to the research of molecular diagnostic methods and detection instruments. Through interdisciplinary research in analytical chemistry, molecular biology, and engineering technology (machinery, electronics, computers, etc.), he has developed a series of new principles, methods, and devices for molecular diagnosis, and established a highly sensitive liquid biopsy technology based on programmable nucleases. In recent years, as the first/corresponding author, I have published 15 papers and applied for more than 10 patents in top journals in the field of molecular diagnosis. I have launched molecular POCT nucleic acid rapid detection products and ultra sensitive tumor liquid biopsy products, and have established a company (Hangzhou Yijian Technology) for promotion and transformation
Visit the iCANX website