NIH Record - National Institutes of Health

Senators Visit NIH, Take Home Tech

Tromberg stands in front of a display table and speaks to several senators under a tent
NIBIB director Dr. Bruce Tromberg (r) briefs visiting senators on RADx Tech.

Photo:  Credit Chia-Chi Charlie Chang

A bipartisan contingent of U.S. senators and staff members visited NIH on May 17 for science briefings, a lab tour and biotech demonstration. The group included Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). Many are members of the appropriations committee.

NIH director Dr. Francis Collins and NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci welcomed the group at the Vaccine Research Center. A tour of a VRC lab, a demonstration of Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) technology, a briefing on mental health amid the pandemic and a discussion of the potential “ARPA-H” were packed into the afternoon. Senators and staff members were separated into two groups to facilitate occupancy in small spaces.

For the lab tour, VRC director Dr. John Mascola; VRC deputy director Dr. Richard Koup, who is also chief of the Immunology Laboratory; and Dr. Nancy Sullivan, chief of the biodefense research section, joined in a discussion about vaccine development.

In a tent erected not far from the VRC, NIBIB director Dr. Bruce Tromberg provided an overview of RADx and walked the delegation through several technologies including Covid at-home tests, point-of-care tests and lab tests. [See RADx Tech Tent Show below] He highlighted efforts developed via RADx over the past year and showed a large sampling of new tests and products from 32 different companies. Each senator and staffer received a box of two at-home tests they could take with them.

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A group of masked Senators form a semi-circle around Mascola, who is holding up a 3-d printing of SARS-Cov-2 virus particle.
VRC director Dr. John Mascola (r), describes research on a tour of a Vaccine Research Center lab.

Photo:  Chia-Chi Charlie Chang

In a large Porter Bldg. conference room, NIMH director Dr. Josh Gordon and deputy clinical director Dr. Joyce Chung discussed mental health and Covid-19. Gordon provided an overview, with Chung presenting on intramural research efforts, collaborations and preliminary findings on the impact of the pandemic on mental health.

Collins briefly discussed ARPA-H, a potential new health research component devoted to scientific breakthroughs that would be housed within NIH. President Joe Biden proposed creating ARPA-H in a recent speech to Congress. Collins also talked about what the senators would see during their visit, which included several presentations on NIH’s multifaceted response to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Afterward, on social media, Blunt posted a message: “Thank you to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Francis Collins & researchers for giving us a terrific tour & presentation of their latest work to save lives. Because of medical researchers’ ingenuity & drive, we are on the edge of finishing the fight against Covid & on a faster timeline than we thought possible a year ago.”

RADx Tech Tent Show

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Tromberg shows off a product while Baldwin holds a mic.
NIBIB director Dr. Bruce Tromberg demonstrates Ellume’s Covid-19 antigen test that displays its result in 15 minutes via a smartphone app. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) extends the microphone, while NIBIB health science policy analyst Dr. Patricia Wiley holds the paired smartphone.

Photo:  Chia-Chi Charlie Chang

Visiting U.S. senators browsed Covid-19 diagnostic technologies on display May 17 in a tent erected for the occasion. 

The RADx Tech and Advanced Technology Platforms (ATP) programs have supported the development and production of 33 technologies, including:

  • a Covid-19 home test kit developed by Ellume that produces a result within 15 minutes (FDA authorized in December 2020) 

  • MatMaCorp’s portable mini-lab that that can rapidly perform multiple RT-PCR assays (FDA authorized in December 2020) 

  • Quidel’s lateral flow immunoassay used with Sofia analyzers that provides results within 15 minutes (FDA authorized in May 2020) 

  • Talis One Covid-19 point-of-care test cartridges that insert into the Talis One instrument to detect SARS-CoV-2 through isothermal amplification of viral RNA and an optical detection system, returning a result in under 30 minutes; 

  • Two-pack boxes of QuickVue At-Home Covid-19 Tests that produce a result at home in 10 minutes (FDA authorized in December 2020).

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Assistant Editor: Eric Bock
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Staff Writer: Amber Snyder
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