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), | ), | ||
h('p', null, 'Unfortunately, HIV diagnosis in infants faces more challenges than HIV diagnosis in adults. Typical serological assays result in large false positives and negatives as infants retain maternal HIV antibodies for up to 18 months, initially obtaining them through transplacental fluid in utero or through breastfeeding milk postnatally, and are therefore unreliable for use as a diagnostic method [', r(3), ']. As a result, HIV DNA/RNA PCR tests, p24 core antigen tests, and HIV cultures are the only reliable diagnostic tests for HIV in infants [', r(3), ', ', r(4), ']. PCR tests, although reliable, are frequently unavailable in resource-constrained settings where the proper lab equipment and skilled personnel are limited [', r(5), ']. HIV cultures, similarly to PCR tests, require proper lab equipment and skilled personnel in addition to taking up to two weeks to grow and obtain results [', r(3), ']. p24 core antigen tests also require proper lab equipment and skilled personnel, but are undergoing testing and clinical evaluation for their utility [', r(5), '].') | h('p', null, 'Unfortunately, HIV diagnosis in infants faces more challenges than HIV diagnosis in adults. Typical serological assays result in large false positives and negatives as infants retain maternal HIV antibodies for up to 18 months, initially obtaining them through transplacental fluid in utero or through breastfeeding milk postnatally, and are therefore unreliable for use as a diagnostic method [', r(3), ']. As a result, HIV DNA/RNA PCR tests, p24 core antigen tests, and HIV cultures are the only reliable diagnostic tests for HIV in infants [', r(3), ', ', r(4), ']. PCR tests, although reliable, are frequently unavailable in resource-constrained settings where the proper lab equipment and skilled personnel are limited [', r(5), ']. HIV cultures, similarly to PCR tests, require proper lab equipment and skilled personnel in addition to taking up to two weeks to grow and obtain results [', r(3), ']. p24 core antigen tests also require proper lab equipment and skilled personnel, but are undergoing testing and clinical evaluation for their utility [', r(5), '].') | ||
+ | ), | ||
+ | h(g.Section, {title: 'How Does Our Project Tie In?'}, | ||
+ | h('p', null, 'Recent research demonstrates CRISPR-associated enzyme Cas12a’s ability to indiscriminately cleave ssDNA following recognition and cleavage of a dsDNA target strand. This property of Cas12a has been utilized for the detection of specific nucleotide sequences [' r(6), ', ', r(7), ']. In these detection assays, Cas12a is assembled with a crRNA including a spacer sequence specific to a duplexed target strand. A fluorophore-quencher pair connected by a short ssDNA sequence is present in the same reaction. Once the Cas12a-crRNA complex is binded to and cleaves a duplexed target strand, Cas12a indiscriminately cleaves any ssDNA or RNA sequence in its vicinity, including the fluorophore-quencher pair. The released fluorophore can then be detected.') | ||
), | ), | ||
h(g.Section, {title: 'References'}, | h(g.Section, {title: 'References'}, |
Revision as of 20:27, 17 October 2018