AUI and Radiance Diagnostics partner to address national COVID testing backlog

December 12, 2020

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Submitted by Matt Schaub

Naperville, IL — Today, AUI and Radiance Diagnostics signed a memorandum of understanding to provide COVID-19 testing, support, and laboratory administration for the federal, state, and local government and businesses that require research and development assistance. Though COVID vaccines have been developed, there remains a clear, urgent, and lasting need to provide high-quality testing for current challenges and the bioscience challenges of the future.

Radiance Diagnostics is a division of Radiance Biosciences & Consultancy, LLC, a biomarker discovery company with innovative assay capabilities that has spent more than a decade developing and testing immunological and molecular assays in support of the medical community. “Radiance currently offers a variety of COVID testing, which screen for the presence of virus or specific proteins unique to the coronavirus,” said Radiance Diagnostics President, Sivakumar Ramu Ph.D. “We look forward to AUI’s assistance in obtaining funding required to expand our testing platform to include the newly developed saliva rapid-test procedure and to train technicians to administer such tests nationwide.”

AUI’s Incubator Division is committed to developing and providing services and support to critical bioscience and medical infrastructure for state and municipal authorities who lack the resources, staffing and/or expertise to meet those challenges.

“We are excited to help Radiance expand their current nucleic acid amplification and serological testing capabilities and to assist with their incorporation of the saliva rapid-test which will quickly detect the presence of coronavirus in a noninvasive manner and allow the rapid reporting of results,” said Senior Advisor to AUI’s Bioscience Initiatives, Jeffrey Murley Ph.D. “AUI has well over 70 years of experience at making scientific breakthroughs possible and we are honored to be a part of this important and historic initiative.”

The MOU includes a crucial key benefit to working together, advanced cybersecurity capabilities. Woodstar Labs, a subsidiary of AUI dedicated to the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure, will provide an added layer of security to help ensure continuity of operations and information security. “Woodstar Labs is excited to partner with Radiance in securing their information systems,” said Director of Cybersecurity Programs, David Catarious. “COVID-19 researchers have been targeted by a range of malicious cyber actors, and we’re excited to do our part to ensure Radiance’s research and development can proceed unimpeded from cybersecurity impacts.”

The MOU details further how AUI and Radiance will work together. AUI will work with Radiance and the federal government to develop a responsive, national emergency laboratory solution that can grow or contract as needed by government. The Bioscience Initiative within AUI is currently working with community colleges to establish Advanced Technological Education training programs through the National Science Foundation.

As an organization focused on education and training in the biosciences, AUI will act as a conduit for the placement of students in these programs with Radiance. AUI will also work directly with Radiance to develop and implement additional education and training curriculum and programs, as well as internship opportunities for these students as they complete their educations, ensuring that they are fully capable of performing the complex testing procedures utilized by Radiance or other similar testing facilities across the nation. In doing this, AUI can create a workforce pipeline to address employers’ hiring needs for highly-skilled technicians with the ability to learn and embrace change in the rapidly evolving healthcare environment.

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