Anuradha Rao

I am an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and am currently part of the team at ACME POCT (Atlanta Center for Microsystems Engineered Point-of-Care Technologies), the Test Verification Center for RADx (Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics) Tech that is involved in validating tests that are used to detect and diagnose SARS-CoV-2 infections. I co-lead the Analytical Testing Lab of RADx at ACME POCT. Since December of 2020, we along with the Variant Task Force (comprising leaders in the diagnostics industry, NIH, FDA, and academia) have been involved in “testing the tests”. We ascertain that diagnostic tests are capable of accurately detecting all rapidly arising SARS-CoV-2 variants and to establish a biobank at Emory University that includes all the known variants of concern (VOC) that are circulating in the US. A major portion of this endeavor involves using clinical samples of specific variants to verify that diagnostic tests detect all the circulating variants as effectively as wild type SARS-CoV-2. In the past year, we are analyzing multiplex tests. These are home tests being developed for simultaneous detection of Influenza A, Influenza B and SARS-CoV-2 using a single sample. In addition to working to facilitate EUA for over-the-counter multiplex tests, our team also working on analytical studies for other point of care device for detection of viruses involved in common curable liver disease.