The latest paper from the UMGC Innovation Lab is published in Nucleic Acid Research. The Innovation Lab expands on their previous work showing that primer editing by proofreading polymerases can rescue the dropout of taxa in marker gene-based microbiome profiling assays. They designed a set of synthetic standards where they systematically mutated every base in the last 10 nt of a commonly used 16S primer (V4_515F), and then characterized the primer editing activity of 8 different polymerases.

In response to nationwide alerts that the invasive zebra mussel has been found in pet store moss balls, the UMGC and the MAISRC are working together to monitor Minnesota lakes by sequencing genetic markers found in the moss balls to compare with any future lake infestation.

Finding asymptomatic carriers reduces spread. An analysis published last month in JAMA Network Open estimated more than half of all COVID-19 transmission originates in people who don't know they are infected. The UMGC’s highly-automated lab is ideally suited to assist with asymptomatic assurance testing by pooling samples 5:1 to reduce the costs per test.