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We’re working on 1M Covid-19 testing capacity per day
11–20 of 247 posts
Re: We’re working on 1M Covid-19 testing capacity per day
#12Since the site response has been intermittent, here's Internet Archive's copy from earlier today.
https://web.archive.org/web/20200407224229/https://www.billi...
Re: We’re working on 1M Covid-19 testing capacity per day
#13Your site seems to be getting hugged to death. Can you answer a few questions here: - Is this test to see if someone currently has it, or if they have the anti-bodies and are (presumably) immune? - What are the false-positive/false-negative rates? How does this compare to current leading tests? - What's the cost per test? How does this compare to current leading tests?
Thanks for letting me know about the site! This is a test to see if someone has a current COVID-19 infection. The antibody tests (serological) tests are also important, but since it is estimated that only ~1% of the US has previously contracted COVID-19, it will be a while before serological testing becomes useful at a population level. Our initial data show no false-positives and no false-negatives out of all specim…
>Our initial data show no false-positives and no false-negatives out of all specimens assayed.
Your test is perfect? Color me skeptical.
Re: We’re working on 1M Covid-19 testing capacity per day
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for letting me know about the site! This is a test to see if someone has a current COVID-19 infection. The antibody tests (serological) tests are also important, but since it is estimated that only ~1% of the US has previously contracted COVID-19, it will be a while before serological testing becomes useful at a population level. Our initial data show no false-positives and no false-negatives out of all specim…
>Our initial data show no false-positives and no false-negatives out of all specimens assayed. Your test is perfect? Color me skeptical.
That's obviously not what he said. Please stick to the site guidelines:
"Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine."
"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."
Re: We’re working on 1M Covid-19 testing capacity per day
#15I'm the co-founder and CTO at BillionToOne. I'm happy to answer any questions here. I've also posted a slightly more technical explanation of how the test works and why it can scale here: https://twitter.com/dtsao/status/1247642005510873088?s=21 Edit: Since our site seems to be overwhelmed at the moment, here's a recap: We’ve been working hard at BillionToOne on a new COVID-19 test that scales testing to everyone in…
Thanks for the link to the scientific manuscript. Can you speak more about the machine learning aspect? Best of luck on getting FDA approval.
Re: We’re working on 1M Covid-19 testing capacity per day
#16So, I can't get to your site, but this seems a little disingenuous as a title. You're not seemingly "unlocking" anything more than a protocol for Sanger sequencing that, if it eventually was approved and actually tested against real samples and people elsewhere adapted the protocols to use for testing, you would then... at that point... unlock a thing.
Re: We’re working on 1M Covid-19 testing capacity per day
#17Thanks for your efforts! Inspiring to see our broader community spring into action. I was part of a volunteer team that tested 3400 people on Friday/Saturday in Santa Clara country for COVID-19 antibodies [1]. It took a team of 100+ volunteers 10 hours / day just to collect samples. Stanford, for example, has plenty of automated testing capacity, and even reagents. IMHO, the limiting factors are not that we need new…
Thank you for your efforts as well!
Sample collection and accessioning (accessioning is unpacking test tubes one by one and aliquoting them into plates in the lab) is definitely going to require a lot of manpower. I'm hopeful that patients "self swabbing" can help alleviate some of the manpower needs. (Self-swabs are not allowed currently under FDA guidance).
Re: We’re working on 1M Covid-19 testing capacity per day
#18So, I can't get to your site, but this seems a little disingenuous as a title. You're not seemingly "unlocking" anything more than a protocol for Sanger sequencing that, if it eventually was approved and actually tested against real samples and people elsewhere adapted the protocols to use for testing, you would then... at that point... unlock a thing.
Since people seem to be reacting to the word "unlocking" in the title, I've replaced it with "working on".
Re: We’re working on 1M Covid-19 testing capacity per day
#19Why advertise before you've got FDA approval?
CEO of BillionToOne here.
We have already generated and put into our scientific manuscript the data that FDA requires for EUA. As a high-complexity CLIA-licensed clinical laboratory, we don't see significant risk in getting the authorization in 2 weeks. However, we need to start working with clinical laboratories across the country today if this is going to scale to hundreds of thousands of tests as soon as we get the EUA. Also, international laboratories don't need EUA and can start using the test immediately. We did not think it would be responsible to hold off on making the technology public when every day is so critical in our response to the current pandemic.
Re: We’re working on 1M Covid-19 testing capacity per day
#20Your site seems to be getting hugged to death. Can you answer a few questions here: - Is this test to see if someone currently has it, or if they have the anti-bodies and are (presumably) immune? - What are the false-positive/false-negative rates? How does this compare to current leading tests? - What's the cost per test? How does this compare to current leading tests?
Thanks for letting me know about the site! This is a test to see if someone has a current COVID-19 infection. The antibody tests (serological) tests are also important, but since it is estimated that only ~1% of the US has previously contracted COVID-19, it will be a while before serological testing becomes useful at a population level. Our initial data show no false-positives and no false-negatives out of all specim…
Dismissing the value of serological testing seems like a self-serving move.
Such tests are immediately of very high value because they allow us to understand immunity to Covid-19, and to actually validate the estimates of cases amongst those who haven’t sought treatment.
These are both of huge value regardless of the percentage of the US population estimate to have previously contracted Covid-19.
By all means market your test which seems like an awesome contribution, but please don’t do so by devaluing other important tools.
[edit: the parent post has been edited to be less dismissive without acknowledgement since I made this comment]
[edit: looks like I’m wrong about the post being edited. Sorry for that. I stand by everything else I say here:
Serological tests are useful and needed right now, not at some future stage. It’s not hard to google to verify this, and it’s irresponsible to downplay the value of a test we need now.]