UTA In The News — Monday, August 3, 2020
COVID testing capabilities
UTA's North Texas Genome Center has established COVID-19 test processing to bolster the University's on-campus testing capabilities, D Healthcare Daily reported. Originally launched as a collaboration between universities and corporations to sequence genomes for biomedical research, NTGC staff shifted their focus when the pandemic hit. Over several months, a pop-up COVID-19 rapid testing unit was developed, acquiring equipment that would allow it to analyze 500 samples per day at full capacity.
COVID-19 in bats for decades
Close relatives of COVID-19 likely circulated in bats for decades before the pandemic-responsible virus made the jump into humans last year, according to a study published in the journal Nature Microbiology and co-authored by UTA’s Todd Castoe, the Kashmir Times reported. Castoe, associate professor of biology, and his collaborators found no evidence that the virus was either manufactured in or accidentally released from a lab in Wuhan, China, as some have speculated.
Engineering rising star
UTA alumnus John Shaver (’07 B.S., Mechanical Engineering) has been named a 2020 Rising Star by Civil and Structural Engineer Magazine. The publication said Shaver’s rise is due to “his ability to lead other engineers and quickly adapt to the changing needs of clients.” Shaver is a project manager in the LJA Engineering Energy sector.