URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2021_Melissa-McCarthy

MARGARET TEASDALE Research Associate Professor Pharmacy

A spectrophotometer/luminometer determines how much virus present in a sample.

“The URI Research Foundation provided numerous resources quickly and efficiently, despite delays due to high demand and low production,” says Teasdale. “They helped to secure crucial supplies and hard-to-find laboratory equipment.” In addition, URIRF connected the Polaris Manufacturing Extension Program (article page 34) to the project. Polaris provided services including the ordering and tracking of supplies and equipment, mapping laboratory space to design workflow, and working with Professor Slitt to create the standard operating procedures to reliably run the new test. With the RAM Lab up and running, Teasdale hopes to continue to grow the lab and open the door to researchers conducting tests on other medical innovations. “Everything evolves,” says Teasdale, who is also working to become the University’s first certified laboratory director for a high-complexity lab under CLIA. “You start with an idea and it evolves.” Teasdale says there are several benefits for the University from both the saliva-based test and RAM Lab URI needed a high-complexity lab under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) to run a human diagnostic test.

in general. Now the University can analyze Slitt’s test right on campus, cost effectively simplifying and speeding up the process rather than sending tests off site. And while no one can predict the next medical diagnostic test society will need, URI will be ready. In addition, this new lab may be able to assist the University’s Health Services in providing more cost-effective services for routine lab tests. “URI has a lot of up-and-coming research, all of which can be capitalized on,” Teasdale says. “This lab can be a crucial step.”

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