Expanding Coronavirus Testing to the Public

It’s been about two weeks since our director, Dr. Ann Kiessling, ran a SARS2 (Coronavirus) test on her daughter, Wilma, that came back positive. Thankfully, Wilma had few symptoms, and Wilma’s husband and toddler continue to test negative. Dr. Kiessling ran this test because Wilma, a worker at a Massachusetts state hospital, was unable to get tested at work after being exposed by one of her patients.

This incident has underlined the urgent need for on-demand testing for SARS2. In this case, the testing and results were so tardy that Wilma was not even aware that she might be exposing her husband and toddler for almost a week.

Since March 19, BRF has been offering SARS2 (Coronavirus) testing to local hospitals, and yesterday, Tuesday, April 21, BRF piloted a new program of completely open, public testing (see pics on WickedLocal). The program was run in partnership with Bedford’s First Parish Unitarian Church. The church set up a tent on its front lawn to collect samples, and members from the congregation were invited to participate. Online pre-registration streamlined the process so that no paperwork was needed on-site. This pilot program was a huge success, and BRF is hoping to expand it in partnership with other local organizations. Find out more about signing up your organization by emailing: covid@bedfordresearch.org

PHOTOS: Bedford residents get tested during BRF’s pilot program on Tuesday, April 21, 2020. [Wicked Local Staff Photo/Ann Ringwood] More photos at WickedLocal.

Front-line workers are still unable to get adequate access to testing in Massachusetts. Please donate now to help support our public testing program.

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Why Aren’t There More Programs Like This?

This program is now possible because federal guidelines recently lifted the limitation of “symptoms only” testing by independent laboratories. Simultaneously, Governor Baker’s task force has urged us to do our own outreach to encourage “public” testing, which we have now begun.

However, a couple of key barriers still exist in MA. First, there is an old public health law that testing by licensed laboratories can only be performed at the request of a physician. The Obama administration tried to eliminate this provision entirely, country-wide, in keeping with Institute of Medicine recommendations from 20 years ago, but the Commonwealth is one of a few states has retained it nonetheless. For our pilot program, BRF has partnered with a local physician to provide these requisitions and collect the samples from patients.

A second barrier is reimbursement for testing. BRF has been informed by doctors that Medicare is reimbursing at a significantly lower rate for small labs, like BRF, than for large labs, like Quest Diagnostics. This lower reimbursement is happening even though in many cases BRF is able to provide faster and/or more specialized results. This puts doctors in the difficult position of choosing between the best test for their patient and covering the costs of their practice. BRF is looking into why this is the case.

We Need Your Support

State funds and insurance reimbursements don’t cover the costs of this vitally needed testing program. We need support from donors like you to provide as many tests as possible to the community. Please consider a donation today!

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On-Demand Testing Needed

Letter to the Editor from Dr. Ann A Kiessling:

Wilma is a social worker on a medical ward at a state hospital. The patient she helped on Thursday developed fever and sore throat on Friday and was tested for COVID19 “sometime over the week-end.” Wilma was notified of the patient’s positive COVID19 test result on Wednesday, five days after the onset of the patient’s symptoms.

Concerned that she was also infected and had infected her husband and her toddler son, Wilma immediately asked to be re-tested at Bedford Research Foundation. She had been tested a week prior because as a front-line health care worker, she was concerned about infecting her family, and was unable to be tested through her work. The first test at BRF was negative. The second test at BRF was positive.

Wilma is my daughter. I am the lab director at BRF. I watched the positive test appear on the qPCR instrument. It was more positive than the positive controls included in the test run. I called her cell phone and told her that her test was positive. “I know, Mom, I’m in bed, I’m exhausted.”

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COVID-19 Testing Now at BRF

Lack of testing still remains a key issue in the battle to contain COVID-19. The Bedford Research Foundation is proud to announce that we’ve expanded our non-profit laboratory services to offer fast and accurate COVID-19 testing in Massachusetts.

BRF laboratory technicians are now working long, rotating shifts to test hundreds of samples each week and ensure that results are available within 24 hours of the sample arriving at the lab. As of April 8th, we’ve tested 460 specimens with 79 testing positive (state report).

BRF is now one of just 66 organizations on the FDA site with an approved test for COVID-19 in the United States. (see the list)

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BRF Team and Rep. Gordon Responding to Need for COVID Testing

As soon as she saw the community spread of the COVID-19 virus in Washington State, Bedford Research Foundation’s (“BRF”) Clinical Laboratory Director Dr. Ann Kiessling sprang into action. Just two weeks later, with the help of Rep. Ken Gordon (D-Bedford), BRF is processing hundreds of tests each week for patients exhibiting symptoms that could be caused by the COVID-19 virus, or were directly exposed to it.

“We had the resources to help, and we felt it was our responsibility to pitch in,” said Dr. Kiessling

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9 GREAT TALKS ON CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS & EARLY DEVELOPMENT

Each of these talks was filmed live at our recent Activated Egg Symposium. Egg and stem cell researchers from around the world gathered to discuss the role of circadian rhythms in early human development and stem cell differentiation during this unique, one-day workshop.

Gene Editing Human Embryos: Who Should Decide?

Dinner Speaker: Arthur Applbaum, PhD
Arthur Isak Applbaum, PhD, is Professor of Ethics and Public Policy and Director of Graduate Fellowships in the Harvard University Center for Ethics and the Professions.

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Bedford Research Foundation Clinical Laboratory Testing for COVID19

Please DONATE to support this urgently needed FREE testing program.

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

BEDFORD RESEARCH FOUNDATION CLINICAL LABORATORY WILL BE TESTING FOR COVID19.

As part of its mission to support treatment of currently incurable diseases in communities, the Bedford Research Foundation clinical laboratory, located in Massachusetts, will begin offering a highly sensitive highly specific test for SARS-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome-2), the new coronavirus responsible for Corona Virus Induced Disease, 2019 (COVID19).

Bedford Research scientists are currently finishing the approval process for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and plan on ramping up the test immediately upon completed review process. The BRF test is based on thirty years of experience as a CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) – licensed FDA-registered lab dedicated to detecting HIV and Hepatitis C in a variety of clinical specimens.

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Bedford Research Foundation 2019 Newsletter

Read about all of the progress and the research that has occurred at the Foundation over the course of the past year, and a retrospective on the past 23! Dr. Kiessling outlines her vision for the upcoming year as well. Thank you for your support.


Bedford Research Foundation is TWENTY THREE

Founded in 1996 to conduct research that cannot be funded by the National Institutes of Health, Bedford Research scientists have achieved ground-breaking milestones!

See our Timeline of Milestones!

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DNA render

Gene Edits for Enhancement

The fifth installment of our blog series about gene editing focuses on gene edits and editing for research purposes. We hope you that you find it informative – please Contact Us with any comments! View the other posts in this series!

Earlier this year, a Chinese scientist reported the birth of twin girls whose genomes had been modified to silence the CCR5 gene.

Human genome: All of the genetic information needed for the embryonic development and adult function of a human being.

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Gene Edits for Treatment of Disease

The fourth installment of our blog series about gene editing focuses on gene edits and editing for research purposes. We hope you that you find it informative – please Contact Us with any comments! View the other posts in this series!

Gene: A specific sequence of A, C, G, T units that instruct the sequence of amino acids that comprise a specific protein. Humans have 20- to 25 thousand genes

As part of our ongoing blog series about gene editing techniques and uses, the Bedford Research Foundation presents:

Gene Edits for Treatment of Disease

Most scientists have applied the CRISPR/Cas system to specific tissues or to stem cells. For example, it is theoretically possible to repair the X-chromosome mutations in liver cells so normal blood clotting factors can be produced by the liver.

CRISPR/Cas: “Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats” is a term that describes DNA sequences in the viruses that infect bacteria. The immune system of bacteria includes a family of proteins (CRISPR-associated, Cas) that recognize CRISPR sequences and degrades them. The enzyme, Cas, needs to bind to a specific RNA sequence of 120 units, which can be synthesized synthetically, in order to degrade the DNA. These two components also function well in cell types other than bacteria, and so have become a useful tool for cutting DNA, resulting in either small deletions, or successful insertions of new synthetic DNAs. Both outcomes create an edited (mutated) gene.

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Bedford Research Foundation Fact Sheet

OUR MISSION

Bedford Research Foundation is a Massachusetts 501(c)(3) public charity and biomedical institute conducting stem cell and related research for diseases and conditions that are currently considered incurable.

WHAT WE DO

BRF conducts research in three principal areas: stem cells, prostate disease and HIV/AIDS.

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