Twist Bioscience, South San Francisco, Calif, has launched the Twist Respiratory Virus Research Panel, a robust next-generation sequencing approach to detecting a wide range of respiratory diseases including SARS-CoV-2, several other coronaviruses, influenzas, rhinoviruses, and respiratory syncytial virus.
Unlike common polymerase chain reaction assays, which detect only one pathogen at a time, the Twist Respiratory Virus Research Panel is designed to identify, detect, and characterize active pathogen presence, screening for 29 common human respiratory viruses in one sample. The panel includes both RNA-based and DNA-based viruses in one kit with 41,047 nucleic acid probes.
The panel will be bundled with an analysis platform from One Codex to enable an easy-to-use, complete end-to-end workflow that begins from the Twist target enrichment panel and continues through publication-ready visualizations.
“The symptoms of covid-19 are extremely varied, in many cases mimicking a number of other common illnesses including influenza, adenovirus infections, or even the common cold,” says Emily M. Leproust, PhD, CEO and cofounder of Twist Bioscience. “By offering a comprehensive respiratory panel with the ability to detect and characterize a wide range of viruses, this assay provides an important tool that fits within multiple workflows to appropriately identify and research the underlying virus causing the infection or co-infection. Importantly, this panel can also be used to surveil populations for early signs of outbreak, viral transmission, and evolution to enhance public health response.”
The Twist Respiratory Virus Research Panel is available for research use only.
For more information, visit Twist Bioscience.
Featured image: Taxonomic tree of viruses covered on the Twist Respiratory Virus Research Panel spanning the major respiratory viral clades. Courtesy Twist Bioscience.
