San Diego-Based company Illumina, worked non-stop over a 58-day period to create this revolutionary test, which provides a positive or negative result, as well as critical genetic information that will ultimately help researchers create a coronavirus vaccine. The FDA granted Emergency Use Authorization for Illumina's test on Tuesday.
Researchers at Illumina worked at warp speed once the idea was presented, and within 58 days they created and produced the test, "It took a village of all of us in San Diego to make that happen," said Susan Tousi, Senior Vice President of Production and Development at Illumina, once Emergency Use Authorization was granted.
While a number of Covid-19 tests already exist, Illumina's goal was to develop a test that would also provide usable information, "Our test not only gives you a yes or no answer for the presence of the virus, but it also gives you the genetic sequence of the virus," Tousi said. The genetic information provided by Illumina's test will help researchers track and trace the virus, while also studying different mutations over time in various locations.
"This was the culmination of an incredible amount of work. And I'm confident we're going to make a big difference in the fight against COVID," Tousi said. "The understanding of this virus at the genetic level is going to make all of the difference in the world in fighting this and future disease."
Illumina has already begun shipping its tests to labs throughout the world.
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