BIOTECH'S FUTURE: ONE TEST SHOWS EVERY BACTERIA, VIRUS AND PARASITE IN YOUR BODY

Aperiomics, a small business funded by the National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research program, is developing a test that can identify a wide range of pathogens in one biological sample. Crystal Icenhour, CEO of Aperiomics, explains the technology in this video. Icenhour and her team use genomics and informatics to diagnose pathogens in a sample, such as blood or saliva. They use high-throughput, next-generation sequencing technologies and Bayesian statistics to provide more accurate, faster results, according to Icenhour. For instance, the sequencing technology could determine a virus that is making an animal sick. The beauty of the technology, Icenhour says, is you don't have to know what you're looking for. The goal is to pinpoint causes of infections of unknown origin, to help quell outbreaks faster.