The rise of qPCR testing in clinical diagnostics

This is a brief preview of the full article, which can be found on Nature’s website.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced a number of changes, many of which will remain in place long after it subsides. One important but under-recognized shift could be in the field of clinical diagnostics.

Over nearly 30 years, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) has developed into an essential tool. It allows researchers to amplify and quantify the presence of specific DNA sequences. While there has been widespread adoption in research settings, the introduction of qPCR into clinical ones has been halting and incomplete. Changes tend to arrive slowly when lives are at stake.

Faced with the fast and often asymptomatic spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, clinical laboratories had to rethink qPCR and its potential. The technology is rapid, accurate and scalable, making it ideal for large-scale viral testing. In the span of months, clinical and diagnostics labs around the world began investing heavily in qPCR equipment and infrastructure.

As SARS CoV-2 progresses towards endemicity, that infrastructure could enable clinical applications far beyond the identification of COVID-19 infections. It could transform the field of clinical diagnostics.

“There’s a lot of equipment out there now that will either sit there collecting dust,” says Jerome Nypaver, the Director of Laboratory Operations at Patient’s Choice Laboratories, “or it’ll be put to use saving critical time for doctors and patients.”

Read the full article on Nature’s Website.