Award continues CDC-funded development of standardized protocols for rapid, accurate detection of RNA viruses using the Oxford Nanopore MinION AUSTIN, TEXAS – Nov. 22, 2022– The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has selected Signature Science, LLC to validate an unbiased sequencing-based protocol for the detection and characterization of unknown or novel RNA viruses. The validated protocol is being developed and evaluated for use in the CDC’s Laboratory Response Network (LRN) of over 120 federal, state and local laboratories that respond to biological and chemical threats and other public health emergencies. The one-year contract is valued at $824,549.The ability to … MORE
Forecasting Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract Near-term probabilistic forecasts for infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and influenza play an important role in public health communication and policymaking. From 2013-2019, the FluSight challenge run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention invited researchers to develop and … MORE
Internal Validation of the ForenSeq Kintelligence Kit for Application to Forensic Genetic Genealogy
Abstract Forensic Genetic Genealogy (FGG) requires high density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) profiles to infer distant relationships. The ForenSeq Kintelligence kit is a recently developed method targeting approximately 10,000 SNPs that were selected to be compatible with genetic genealogy databases, while … MORE
Abstract Here we describe a publicly available environmental DNA (eDNA) sequence dataset, consisting of samples collected from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) on Lake Erie. We sequenced samples drawn from before, during, and … MORE
Methods developed by Signature Science-led team will enable lower dose radiation detection from minimally invasive sample types. AUSTIN, TEXAS — Oct. 20, 2022 — Current methods to determine accidental or intentional exposure to ionizing radiation involve drawing the person’s blood for testing at a specialty laboratory and waiting several days for a result. These ‘biodosimetry’ methods, which have been in use for more than 40 years, focus on high dose ionizing radiation exposure from blood-based biomarkers such as DNA, RNA, and protein. Using biodosimetry–measuring biological response as a surrogate for radiation dose—may be difficult to deploy on a large scale for … MORE
Abstract The Transportation Security Laboratory of the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate is tasked with establishing quality control metrics for assessing the performance of x-ray imaging technologies used by airport security. In conformity with that mission, a high-energy … MORE
Abstract Microarray processing, which interrogates hundreds of thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the human genome, has recently gained traction in forensics due to its use in forensic genetic genealogy, which is based on analysis using SNPs to compare distant … MORE
Brian Schimmoller Interviewed for AIHA Magazine “The Synergist” to Discuss CEAT Tool
October 06, 2022 • Signature Science President & CEO Brian Schimmoller sat down for an interview with The Synergist, the official magazine of the American Industrial Hygiene Association to discuss the COVID-19 Exposure Assessment Tool (CEAT) following the publication of … MORE
Abstract Background: Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based kinship analysis is now a cornerstone of modern forensic genomics. Imputation can be used to augment genome-wide SNP data from low-coverage whole-genome sequencing (LCWGS). The impact of imputation after LCWGS on genotyping error and its subsequent … MORE
Abstract The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Exposure Assessment Tool (CEAT) allows users to compare respiratory relative risk to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) for various scenarios, providing understanding of how combinations of protective measures affect risk. CEAT incorporates mechanistic, … MORE
SeqScreen training course will support BioMADE’s Education & Workforce Development initiative. AUSTIN, TEXAS – Sept. 27, 2022 –Advanced bioengineering technologies offer enormous potential for creating cost-effective solutions across industries, but there is little existing guidance to avoid causing inadvertent harm to … MORE