Skip to main content
Close
Vilcek Foundation
  • About
    • About

      The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences.

    • Our Mission
    • Board & Staff
    • Press Center
    • Contact
  • Prizes
    • Prizes

      The Vilcek Foundation Prizes are awarded to foreign-born individuals for extraordinary achievement in the arts and sciences.

    • About the Prizes

      Learn more about the Vilcek Foundation Prizes and the prizewinners.

    • Vilcek Prizes

      Awarded to immigrants with a legacy of major accomplishments.

    • Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise

      Awarded to young immigrant professionals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement early in their careers.

    • Vilcek Prize for Excellence

      Awarded to immigrants who have had a significant impact on American society, or to individuals who are dedicated champions of immigrant causes.

    • Prize Recipients
    • Grants for Organizations
  • Art
  • Events
  • News
Sign Up Search
Home > News > The explosion of new coronavirus tests that could help to end the pandemic

The explosion of new coronavirus tests that could help to end the pandemic

Media Coverage | July 24, 2020

Giorgia Guglielmi, Nature

Tags
covid-19 CRISPR genome-editing
Share this page
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Feng Zhang at a bench in his lab

The timing couldn’t have been worse. In March, just as Thailand’s coronavirus outbreak began to ramp up, three hospitals in Bangkok announced that they had suspended testing for the virus because they had run out of reagents. Thai researchers rushed to help the country’s clinical laboratories meet the demand. Looking for affordable and easy-to-use tests, systems biologist Chayasith (Tao) Uttamapinant at the Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology in Rayong reached out to an old acquaintance: CRISPR co-discoverer Feng Zhang, who had been developing an assay for the coronavirus inspired by the gene-editing technology.

Read more from nature
Tags
covid-19 CRISPR genome-editing
Share this page
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Related News

March 21, 2018

Feng Zhang: From ESL to Revolution

Credited with the development of transformative technologies such as CRISPR, Feng Zhang delights in helping others realize their potential. “Every person has their own creativity and their own way of thinking about problems,” Feng says. “That’s part of the joy too, seeing how you can help people realize an even bigger impact.”
Feng Zhang is standing in an aisle in his lab, dressed in a white lab coat.
March 22, 2019

Amit Choudhary: Quantum Physics, Binge-Eating Snakes, and More

Creative Promise Prizewinner Amit Choudhary is used to crossing borders and breaking boundaries.
A photo of Amit Choudhary in his office.
March 29, 2022

Katalin Karikó: The sacrifices and successes of immigrant scientists

Amid multiple awards for the development of mRNA vaccines, Hungarian biochemist Katalin Karikó insists that her greatest success has been being able to show up every day for a career she is passionate about.
Katalin Karikó standing in the woods in a beige coat with fur trim.

You may also be interested in

Feng Zhang

Feng Zhang receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for using light to manipulate the activities of brain cells in living animals and for enabling rapid alterations to the genomes of living organisms.
Portrait of Feng Zhang

Amit Choudhary

Amit Choudhary receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for the identification of a fundamental force integral to the structures of biomolecules like proteins and DNA, and for improvements upon the genome-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9.
Portrait of Amit Choudhary

Harris Wang

Harris Wang receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for the development and application of Mutiplex Automated Genome Engineering (MAGE), a platform to track, program, and engineer entire microbial communities and ecosystems for a range of diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
Portrait of Harris Wang

Join our mailing list

Sign Up
Vilcek Foundation
21 East 70th Street
New York, New York 10021

Phone: 212.472.2500

Email: info@vilcek.org

  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Board and Staff
    • Press Center
    • Contact
  • Prizes
    • Vilcek Prizes
    • Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise
    • Vilcek Prize for Excellence
    • Prize Recipients
    • Grants for Organizations
  • Art
  • Events
  • News
  • Careers
Connect with us
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Vimeo
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility Statement
© 2022   Vilcek Foundation