PROJECT!!!!

Hey it's Katie again from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  Finally after 7 long months of waiting I finally have my project.  In Dr. Hodinka's lab, the primary goal of research is to improve their clinical outcomes.  With that in mind, he has assigned me to two new projects.  The one which has taken up the majority of my time is the HSV (Herpes Simplex Virus) comparison study.  Mike (a med-tech) and I are comparing 5 different HSV assays (three type specific and two type independent assays).  Mike and I are waiting for one more probe (a PCR agent that emits florescence when replication is occuring) before we can officially begin the study.

My other project is developing a new corona virus assay.  Corona virus is a respiratory virus that is most known for the SARS outbreak a few years ago.   However, this outcome is pretty rare and coronavirus usually results in the common cold.  Its name originated from the sun shaped rash that can sometimes develop on the patient's skin. The assay I will be developing tests for 4 strains of the virus.  So far this project has involved pulling past respiratory samples and doing a lot of paper work.  At this point I have over 700 patient samples on file, and that is just from one month!  Once we get a little deeper into the project I will fill you guys in on more details but I just wanted to check in!