Prof receives grant for screening test

Prof. Lawrence Wangh (BIOL) and Smiths Detection Diagnostics have received a grant from the National Institute of Health to collaborate on the development of an assay, or biochemical screening test, for pathogens including at least eight of the most common organisms that cause sepsis, an illness in which bacteria proliferate in the blood."[The assay uses] a new platform technology for molecular diagnostics and is very powerful in terms of its specificity and the amount of information it generates in a single tube," said Wangh.

Wangh's laboratory started out as a group of reproductive biologists investigating the genetics of single cells from mouse and human embryos and made a fundamental discovery in a lab procedure called the polymerase chain reaction. PCR is a method for "amplifying" genetic material, or replicating a small sample of DNA to quantities usable in experiments.

The discovery, patented as linear-after-the-exponential PCR, "opened a window for how to amplify DNA more conveniently and more specifically than was available using standard PCR methods," explained Wangh. After this discovery, Wangh's lab entered into a long-term partnership with Smiths, a U.K.-based company that provides threat detection and screening for military, transportation, medical and homeland security applications.

President of Diagnostics for Smiths Detection Bill Mawer wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that the dynamic between the company and Wangh's laboratory at Brandeis will change from what it was since the start of their collaboration in 2004.

"Having an NIH grant introduces particular reporting requirements which are different from what we do now. We are working with Larry Wangh on a plan to separate the work that is dedicated to the NIH projects from the more general research work and manage each in an appropriate way," Mawer wrote.

Smiths Detection Diagnostics is working to develop two versions of a machine-one portable and another for hospitals-that will run the assays for the dangerous bacteria without much input from human operators.

"The beauty of [an automated assay] is that the amount of training required for the operator is minimized, and the reproducibility of the assays is more reliable," said Wangh.

"One of the big problems in diagnostics is often individual operators do it slightly differently, so by standardizing and making it automated, we minimize the operator issues," Wangh said.

Wangh also said that the new assay will simplify the process of testing for bacteria that cause sepsis. "The whole idea is to get the maximum amount of information out of a reaction in a single tube in under two hours," he said.

Although scientists in Wangh's laboratory are working primarily in the area on infectious disease diagnostics, researchers are also working on cancer diagnostics, prenatal diagnostics and tests for aging and drug effects.

"It is probably fair to say that Smiths Detection Diagnostics and Brandeis are 'joined at the hip' on diagnostics, so we are working on a wide range of projects," Mawer wrote.

Wangh's laboratory also has funding from Smiths to work on diseases such as pandemic and avian influenza, African swine fever and tuberculosis.

The first assay to come to market will most likely be one that tests for foot-and-mouth disease, a virus that affects cattle.

Wangh said that the assay is being developed for use with a portable device that can be taken to sick cows on farmland.

The second assay under development will test human patients for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, an antibiotic-resistant bacterium linked to high mortality rates, particularly in the very old and very young, that has become increasingly common in hospitals and schools.

Wangh said that it may take years for this assay to hit the markets, saying that "with human diseases there is a very long and expensive process to get the assay through FDA approval."

"Each member of the [lab] has his or her own specialty, but we consult with each other frequently and we make group decisions about how to go forward. It is very much a team effort and co-inventorship on all of our patents," said Wangh.

There are five senior scientists working as a part of Wangh's lab.

Former Brandeis Associate Provost Dr. Arthur H. Reis Jr. is working on projects associated with MRSA and sepsis; Dr. Kenneth Pierce is working on foot-and-mouth disease and Clostridium difficile; Dr. Cristina Hartshorn is working on Avian influenza and, more recently pandemic influenza; John Rice is working on tuberculosis; and Dr. J. Aquiles Sanchez is working on cancer.

The researchers use synthetic genetic material rather than live pathogens to develop tests for the diseases.