• Press Release

"How DNA Tests Can Help Physicians Detect Infectious Diseases Faster"-Megan Knowles

  • Becker’s Clinical Leadership & Infection
  • New York, NY
  • (October 24, 2018)

Hospitals are starting to look to genetic sequencing services to identify pathogens that make patients sick. Karius, a life sciences company focusing on infectious disease diagnostics with genomics, uses DNA tests that can deliver results quicker than traditional lab methods. “This is pretty bleeding-edge stuff,” said Joel Dudley, PhD director of the Mount Sinai Institute for Next Generation Healthcare and executive vice president of precision health for the Mount Sinai Health System. But if scientists look to sequencing and software to identify microbes from DNA alone, they first need to develop massive genetic databases that evolve with the pathogens. "We're just beginning to get data sets big enough to have clinical utility," Dr. Dudley said. "So there's still work to be done. But it's a very promising approach for getting diagnoses more quickly."

- Joel Dudley, PhD, Director, Institute for Next Generation Healthcare, Associate Professor, Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Executive Vice President, Precision Health, Mount Sinai Health System

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About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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