Canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2) is a highly contagious pathogen causing severe gastrointestinal and cardiac disease in dogs, with three circulating antigenic variants. While quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) provides accurate diagnosis, its requirement for thermal cycling equipment and trained personnel limits applicability in field settings. This article presents a novel CRISPR-Cas12a based point-of-care diagnostic assay for CPV-2 detection in fecal samples, addressing this diagnostic gap. The assay combines isothermal amplification—either recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) or loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)—with Cas12a-mediated detection, eliminating the need for thermal cycling. The CRISPR-Cas12a system recognizes target sequences within the conserved VP2 gene using a guide RNA and activates non-specific nuclease activity, triggering fluorescent signal generation via a reporter probe. This three-step workflow enables rapid, sensitive detection suitable for resource-limited veterinary settings, improving diagnostic capacity for timely quarantine and therapeutic interventions.

Isothermal nucleic acid amplification technologies (INAATs) represent a significant advancement in infectious disease diagnostics, addressing critical limitations of conventional PCR by eliminating the need for thermal cycling equipment and specialized laboratory infrastructure. These methods—including LAMP, RPA, RAA, MIRA, HDA, RCA, SDA, and NASBA—enable rapid pathogen detection at constant temperature while maintaining high sensitivity and specificity for bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic agents. Recent innovations in enzyme engineering, assay design, CRISPR-based detection, biosensors, and microfluidics have substantially enhanced these technologies' performance capabilities. This research initiative seeks to consolidate advances in isothermal amplification across methodological innovations, enzyme development, and diverse applications spanning clinical, veterinary, environmental, and food safety sectors. By integrating isothermal amplification with emerging detection platforms and portable devices, these technologies facilitate the transition toward accessible point-of-care diagnostics, particularly benefiting resource-limited settings where infectious disease burden remains greatest. This comprehensive overview welcomes original research and reviews on next-generation diagnostic platforms combining isothermal amplification with advanced detection methodologies.

Candidemia represents a significant nosocomial bloodstream infection challenge, characterized by high mortality rates and considerable healthcare expenditure. This comprehensive review addresses critical management obstacles, primarily diagnostic delays stemming from conventional method limitations and complexities in optimizing antifungal therapy. The analysis encompasses candidemia epidemiology, species distribution patterns, and infection origins before examining diagnostic advancements and the critical role of susceptibility-guided therapy in improving patient outcomes and mitigating resistance development. The review evaluates current diagnostic approaches alongside emerging technologies designed to enhance detection performance. Therapeutic strategies receive detailed scrutiny, including empiric and targeted regimens, mixed infection management, and host-drug interactions, with particular attention to antifungal resistance and combination therapy potential. Recent drug development advances are highlighted, featuring agents in clinical trials targeting novel fungal pathways. Future directions encompassing artificial intelligence integration in diagnostics, vaccine-based prophylaxis approaches, and synergistic treatment strategies are explored. By synthesizing contemporary progress, this review provides clinicians and researchers with evidence-based guidance for navigating candidemia management's evolving landscape.

Between 2022 and 2024, the CDC conducted comprehensive surveillance of Candida auris cases across the United States, tracking an emerging antifungal-resistant yeast pathogen through state and jurisdictional health departments using standardized case definitions and reporting platforms including REDCap and DCIPHER. Clinical cases, defined as detection from diagnostic specimens, and screening cases, identified from colonization surveillance swabs, were documented with demographic and clinical data. The surveillance revealed concerning escalation, with clinical cases rising from 2,882 in 2022 to 6,197 in 2024, representing 53.7% growth in the first year and 39.9% in the second year. Most cases affected adults over 45 years old and males. Urine and blood specimens were the most frequently positive sources. This monitoring is critical because C. auris causes invasive infections with high mortality rates and transmits asymptomatically in healthcare settings, making surveillance essential for guiding infection prevention and control strategies as the fungus continues spreading across multiple states with increasing incidence.

Candida auris represents a critical healthcare threat as a multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen causing outbreaks and high mortality rates. This multicenter study evaluated the Simplexa C. auris Direct assay, a molecular diagnostic tool designed to overcome limitations of conventional culture methods, which are hindered by slow growth and identification challenges. Researchers analyzed 2,020 axilla and groin swab specimens from six clinical sites, comparing the Simplexa assay against culture followed by MALDI-TOF MS identification. The assay demonstrated strong diagnostic performance with 94.8% sensitivity and 98.7% specificity, achieving 98.6% overall diagnostic accuracy and producing results within two hours. Limits of detection were 127 CFU/mL for Clade I and 260 CFU/mL for Clade IV. Comparison with four laboratory-developed molecular tests showed excellent concordance with discordance rates below 1.5%. These findings underscore the Simplexa assay's value as a rapid, reliable alternative enabling earlier C. auris detection and containment in diverse healthcare settings, ultimately supporting infection prevention strategies and reducing patient mortality.

Antibiotic resistance poses a critical global health challenge requiring advanced investigation methods. Researchers have developed a microfluidic hollow-fiber infection model that simulates realistic pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic conditions to study bacterial responses to antibiotic treatment. The system combines dynamic antibiotic concentration gradients with high-resolution imaging of bacteria within tissue-like environments, utilizing minimal resources. Testing with Escherichia coli strains revealed that treatment efficacy depends not only on time above minimum inhibitory concentration, but critically on dosing intervals and recovery phases between doses. Prolonged dosing periods and shortened recovery times enhance bacterial clearance, while specific regimens trigger distinct phenotypic responses including filamentous growth. This innovative platform enables mechanistic analysis of how dosing schedules influence bacterial survival and adaptation, offering valuable insights for optimizing antibiotic treatment strategies and translating findings from laboratory to clinical practice.

# Summary Clinical microbiology of fungal infections represents a critical area of medical laboratory science addressing the diagnosis, identification, and characterization of pathogenic fungi. This comprehensive resource examines diagnostic methodologies, including microscopy, culture techniques, and molecular approaches essential for accurate fungal identification. The content encompasses various clinically significant fungal pathogens, their epidemiology, and associated disease manifestations across diverse patient populations. Understanding fungal infection microbiology is vital for clinicians and laboratory professionals to implement appropriate diagnostic protocols, ensure timely treatment initiation, and improve patient outcomes. The field continues evolving with advancing technologies in fungal detection and antifungal susceptibility testing.

QuickMIC® represents a transformative breakthrough in sepsis management, addressing the critical time constraints inherent in treating this life-threatening condition. By delivering antimicrobial susceptibility testing results in hours rather than the traditional 24-48 hours, QuickMIC® enables clinicians to make informed antibiotic treatment decisions significantly faster. This expedited diagnostic capability enhances patient outcomes by facilitating precise antibiotic selection, thereby reducing the risk of treatment failure and antimicrobial resistance. Recognized as an FDA breakthrough device, QuickMIC® is already operational in European healthcare facilities and is progressing through clinical studies for North American deployment. This innovative technology promises to substantially improve sepsis management protocols and patient survival rates across global healthcare systems.

Foodborne pathogen detection remains inherently challenging due to uneven contamination, trace-level pathogens, time-intensive enrichment processes, and food matrix interference. Rather than pursuing a single technological solution, the industry is advancing through integrated workflows that enhance detection speed and response effectiveness. On-site testing capabilities are moving detection closer to production floors, while improved integration between sampling, testing, and reporting accelerates data-to-action timelines. Emerging technologies including portable molecular tools, multiplex assays, and isothermal amplification are narrowing the gap between speed and reliability, enabling faster, more confident decision-making. This shift represents a fundamental transition from isolated testing events toward continuous, real-time risk monitoring, reducing delays and creating earlier intervention opportunities before minor contamination issues escalate into costly problems.

Organs-on-a-chip represent a transformative advancement in biotechnology, offering a sophisticated alternative to traditional animal testing and conventional cell culture methods. These microdevices, exemplified by Emulate's Liver-Chip S1, replicate human organ microenvironments at a microscopic scale using layered polydimethylsiloxane with integrated channels housing multiple cell types. The technology employs microfluidics and perfusion mechanisms that mimic physiological conditions, creating an in vivo-like environment that enhances cellular function and drug response prediction. This elegant engineering solution enables three-dimensional tissue-tissue interaction studies, providing more accurate and predictive data for pharmaceutical development while substantially reducing reliance on animal models.

Recent advances in antibiotic susceptibility testing represent a significant evolution in clinical microbiology and infectious disease management. This collection of research encompasses innovative approaches including nucleic acid-based mass spectrometry for rapid tuberculosis identification, transformer-based resistance gene detection from nanopore signals, and fluorogenic methods for colistin susceptibility determination. Additional developments feature molecular assays for direct carbapenemase gene detection and comprehensive reviews examining classical, molecular, and artificial intelligence-enhanced diagnostic techniques. These next-generation technologies address critical clinical needs by enabling faster, more accurate pathogen identification and drug resistance profiling, ultimately supporting personalized treatment strategies and combating the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance in healthcare settings worldwide.

Johan Elf's research group investigates the fundamental physical and chemical principles governing molecular-level cellular processes, particularly in bacterial cells. Focusing on transcriptional regulation, protein synthesis, and cell division, the team develops quantitative physics-based models and validates them through advanced experimental techniques. A core research objective involves creating sensitive biophysical measurement tools capable of observing individual macromolecules within living cells at high spatial and temporal resolution. Through interdisciplinary collaboration among physicists, biologists, chemists, programmers, and engineers, the group bridges biochemistry and physiology to address central biological questions: gene regulation mechanisms, chromosomal organization, and bacterial growth and division. The research has yielded innovative diagnostic applications for infectious diseases, while ongoing investigations explore how regulatory proteins locate specific DNA sequences within genomes.

Vascular and inflammatory diseases share dysfunction of endothelial and epithelial barriers under combined mechanical and inflammatory stress, yet traditional models fail to replicate this complex microenvironment, hampering drug development and clinical translation. Organ-on-a-chip technologies represent promising alternatives to animal testing by emulating physiological conditions, though current approaches lack robust biomechanical readouts and functional validation of drug candidates under physiologically relevant flow conditions. This Research Topic consolidates a multimodal paradigm wherein mechanics-aware organ-on-a-chip platforms serve as integrated testing systems for vascular and inflammatory disease research, encompassing vessel, endothelium, epidermis, lung, and gut-on-chip models combined with computational hemodynamic modeling to enhance throughput and information content in drug evaluation pipelines.

The tumor microenvironment functions as a dynamic ecosystem that orchestrates carcinogenesis, therapeutic resistance, and immune evasion. This comprehensive review examines the cellular and acellular architecture of the TME, including cancer-associated fibroblasts, tumor-associated macrophages, and remodeled extracellular matrix. The authors analyze molecular mechanisms underlying TME-mediated pathogenesis, encompassing metabolic reprogramming, epigenetic dysregulation, and microbiome interactions that collectively drive immunosuppression. The review highlights emerging therapeutic strategies, including precision nanotechnologies, next-generation immunotherapies such as logic-gated CAR-T cells and bispecific engagers, metabolic modulators, stromal normalization, and microbiome interventions. Advanced tools including patient-derived organoids, tumor-on-a-chip systems, and artificial intelligence-powered multi-omics enable personalized therapeutic forecasting, offering transformative approaches to overcome intratumoral heterogeneity and therapeutic challenges.

These sensors can be functionalized with antibodies, aptamers, or enzymes for label-free detection of cancer biomarkers, pathogens, viruses, toxins, and heavy ...

Viral diseases disproportionately affect populations in low- and middle-income countries, yet molecular diagnostics remain confined to centralized laboratories, creating critical gaps in disease surveillance and outbreak response. This comprehensive review examines the landscape of viral diagnostics, highlighting significant global inequities in test availability and access. The authors assess five key molecular diagnostic platforms, including PCR-based technologies, isothermal amplification, CRISPR-based diagnostics, synthetic biology, and portable sequencing, evaluating their potential for decentralized deployment. The analysis establishes essential performance criteria for context-appropriate diagnostic solutions and identifies critical implementation considerations, including simplified sample processing, viral diversity management, and integrated connectivity. Advancing from centralized laboratory testing to decentralized diagnostic approaches is essential for improving clinical outcomes and pandemic preparedness globally, requiring needs-driven design and rigorous validation across diverse healthcare settings.

CRISPR-based diagnostics are uniquely positioned to enable rapid, affordable, and highly accurate nucleic acid testing at both the point-of-care and the point- ...

Quantum dots represent a transformative nanotechnology platform with significant potential in medical applications. These semiconductor nanocrystals function as fluorescent biological labels, enabling advanced diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities across multiple disease areas, particularly oncology and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's. Recent research demonstrates their utility in cancer detection, tumor imaging, and targeted therapy approaches. The technology has evolved substantially since early fluorescent imaging applications, with ongoing developments in quantum computing enhancing diagnostic precision. However, clinical translation faces challenges related to toxicology, physicochemical properties, and environmental factors affecting biocompatibility. Current investigations focus on optimizing quantum dot formulations for improved safety profiles and therapeutic efficacy, positioning this emerging technology as a promising frontier in precision medicine and personalized healthcare solutions.

Researchers have developed an innovative droplet microfluidic platform to accelerate antibiotic discovery from complex environmental microbial communities. The approach combines bacterial cultivation in picoliter droplets with multiplexed phenotypic screening using dual fluorescently labeled reporter strains representing both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. By simultaneously monitoring independent survival signals, the system efficiently detects and isolates bioactive compounds with diverse inhibition profiles. Proof-of-concept studies successfully identified a model Streptomyces strain and screened soil-derived microbial communities, demonstrating the platform's practical utility. This advancement addresses the critical gap in antibiotic discovery pipelines, offering a powerful tool to combat rising antimicrobial resistance through rapid screening of environmental samples for novel bioactive compounds with varied mechanisms of action.

Urinary tract infections caused by E. coli represent a significant clinical burden, compounded by rising antimicrobial resistance that demands rapid pathogen identification and susceptibility testing. This study presents an innovative smartphone-integrated electrochemical platform capable of detecting E. coli within thirty minutes and simultaneously assessing susceptibility to four antibiotics in five hours—substantially faster than conventional methods requiring two to five days. The portable device utilizes an indium tin oxide-based immunosensor functionalized with gold nanoparticles and monoclonal antibodies, achieving sensitive detection across clinically relevant bacterial concentrations. Integration of microfluidic reservoirs and on-chip heating enables controlled bacterial incubation with real-time electrochemical analysis, offering a compact, multiplexed diagnostic solution to address antimicrobial resistance and improve clinical outcomes for UTI patients.