Jackson, Wyoming – August 10, 2023
A generous gift from Dr. Denis R Lyman & Diane K Robards Lyman Foundation in Wyoming will bring rapid diagnosis of ALS much closer to the patients and their families.
Dr. Rachael Dunlop and Stewart Wood operate the new robot in the Brain Chemistry Labs.
This robot has sped up the validation process for the new microRNA ALS diagnostic test invented by the not-for-profit Brain Chemistry Labs.
The test is made from a standard blood draw in which small particles called extracellular vesicles released by the brain into the bloodstream are extracted.
Once concentrated, microRNA is extracted and sequenced.
The Brain Chemistry Labs team, led by Dr. Sandra Banack and Dr. Rachael Dunlop, discovered that a “fingerprint” of eight specific microRNAs distinguishes ALS patients from healthy people.
Using blood plasma samples from a Phase II clinical trial and the Centers for Disease Control National ALS Biorepository, the Brain Chemistry Labs team has reproduced this result four times.
The gift of a liquid-handling robot from The Dr. Denis R Lyman & Diane K Robards Lyman Foundation moves the diagnostic test one step closer to high throughput, making it an attractive prospect for licensing by a pharmaceutical company. Automated pipetting increases the speed of analysis and reduces human error during sample preparation.
Dr. Sandra Banack holds a sample of neurally enriched exosomes extracted from an ALS patient blood sample.
The scientists affectionately refer to the robot as “Nevada” after the first volunteer at the Brain Chemistry Labs. Nevada Robards was an early pioneer in the development of the whitewater rafting industry in Jackson Hole and was Diane Lyman’s mother.
Contact: Marya King, marya@ethnomedicine.org, 224-358-6578