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Laboratory Focus February/March 2016 www.laboratoryfocus.ca
app review PopRX
By: PopRX https://www.poprx.ca/
Promise of a Zika vaccine The global race to take down the Zika virus is beginning to heat up and Canada’s top infectious disease facility is leading the charge. To date, the mosquito-borne virus has reached pandemic status, spreading rapidly in South and Central America. It has also been speculatively linked to birth defects, known as microcephaly, in Brazil. Currently, there are no treatments or cure for the disease, however, the Winnipeg-based National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) believes it will have an experimental vaccine ready by year’s end. While that may sound like a lofty goal to some, for those who know NML’s history, it is by no means an empty promise on their part. Since it first opened in 1999 as Canada’s only facility with a biosafety level 4 laboratory, the NML has been at the cutting edge of both infectious disease research and vaccine development. For starters, in 2014, it played a key role in the global effort to stop the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa. In fact, its scientists helped design both the first Ebola vaccine and the Ebola drug ZMapp. Additionally, in 2009, the NML was the first to confirm H1N1, or “swine flu” as a new strain of influenza. And prior to that, in the early 2000s, it helped put an end to the deadly SARS epidemic. The success of the NML goes beyond just its bricks and mortar. It is home to excellent scientists, who produce world class work. Moreover NML scientists collaborate with some of the best infectious disease researchers in the world. Such is the case in the development of a Zika virus vaccine, where NML has partnered with researchers in the United States. In fact, the vaccine itself is already in clinical production. On the Canadian front, the NML is also working with a team of scientists at Brock University in St. Catherines, ON, the only academic institution in Canada with a Level 3 containment lab that includes an insectary. There they have started testing mosquitoes native to Canada to determine whether the insects can become infected with Zika and potentially transmit the virus to humans. Likewise, the national lab is also testing Zika in about a dozen mosquito species, about half of them unique to Western Canada. In both instances they hope to answer questions as to whether the virus could come to Canada. If it does, expect the NML to be on the front lines protecting Canadians.
PopRx, dubbed the ‘Uber’ of prescriptions, is a free app that delivers your prescription medications with just a picture on your phone. It is the first and only Canadian company that offers this service, allowing customers the freedom to get their prescriptions, refills and pill reminders for free with a simple click on their phone. Whether you are a busy parent, or have ongoing prescription needs, you no longer have go to the pharmacy and wait in lines for your medications. PopRx delivers right to your door.
Science Mobile
By American Association for the Advancement of Science http://content.aaas.org/mobile/ The Science Mobile app is a great information source, but falls short in terms of user experience. Starting with the good, the app lets users read summaries, abstracts, and, for subscribers, full-text articles from Science, Science Translational Medicine, and Science Signaling websites. Users can also share their own articles, links, and job postings to the app through Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail. This makes it an ideal information source for chemistry, environmental, clinical and biological science researchers and also a useful tool for job seekers who can easily sift through job listings as well as tap into other skill building resources via Science Careers. As an added bonus, the App gives users access to the Science weekly podcast and other multimedia. The drawbacks of the App are that users have found loading times and app functionality cumbersome and confusing. Many users comment that page loading speeds are terrible, and that the App hasn’t been updated in a very long time. There’s also a lack of tech support to help address troubleshooting problems.
