UCSB scientists develop smartphone-based COVID-19 test
A group of local scientists and professors is trying to make COVID-19 testing more easily accessible around the globe. “We came up with a smartphone-based COVID and influenza test diagnostic,” said Douglas Heithoff, UC Santa Barbara Mahan Lab Project Scientist. About a year and a half ago, a research team of about ten UC Santa […]
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Scientists have some good news about the new Omicron variant spreading in South Africa
The discovery of the new BA.2 Omicron variant has raised concerns that South Africa could see another wave in infections – but scientists say the subvariant is unlikely to be a ‘gamechanger’ and require additional interventions. There are three officially designated subtypes of Omicron: BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3 — with the BA.2 sub-variant quickly spreading […]
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How South African scientists discovered the troubling omicron variant
In early November, laboratories in South Africa’s Gauteng province began picking up something unusual while processing Covid-19 tests: they weren’t able to detect the virus gene that creates the spike protein enabling the pathogen to enter human cells and spread. Around the same time, doctors in the region saw a sudden flood of patients with […]
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