First Posted: May 07, 2021 04:44 AM EDT
Photo : Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
To help schools eyeing a return to in-person classes, San Diego biotech Biocept is bringing coronavirus testing to community colleges throughout the state of California.
The company recently announced a testing partnership with the Foundation for California Community Colleges, a nonprofit group that supports 116 community colleges in the area, serving more than 2 million students. The included schools will be able to administer coronavirus tests to students and staff, send samples to the local lab of Biocept and receive results within 48 hours.
According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Biocept CEO Michael Nall stated that biotech started to offer coronavirus testing around last year after the company realized that it had the equipment, expertise, and laboratory certifications to run the tests. He also added that Biocept started to use a test made by Thermo Fisher to detect genetic material from
Araksyan Nordikyan is the 2021 ANCA-WR Karabian Fellow
The Armenian National Committee of America–Western Region announced that California native Araksya Nordikyan has been selected as the 2021 Walter & Laurel Karabian Fellow. As an exception due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Karabian Fellow will spend 6 months at the ANCA-WR office working on policy initiatives and spend the remaining term of the 9-month program at a government office.
“We are excited to welcome the 2021 Karabian Fellow to the ANCA-WR. Araksya brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and energy to the organization and we look forward to working with her in advancing the policy priorities of our community” remarked the ANCA-WR Executive Director Armen Sahakyan. “I am certain her tenure at the ANCA-WR office and later placement at a government agency will continue to foster her professional growth, while allowing for the opportunity to work on issues she is passionate about.”
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San Diego biotech Biocept is bringing coronavirus testing to community colleges throughout California in a bid to help schools eyeing a return to in-person classes.
The company recently announced a testing partnership with the Foundation for California Community Colleges, a nonprofit supporting 116 community colleges that serves 2.1 million students. These schools will be able to administer COVID-19 tests to students and staff, send samples to Biocept’s local lab and receive results within 48 hours.
It’s an unusual pivot for Biocept, a company that mainly focuses on developing new ways to detect cancer sooner. But then again, the past year has been nothing if not unusual.
In summary
The UC system is in need of reform; here’s a four-step proposal that would unlock R&D potential and expand access to California students.
By Nils Gilman, Special to CalMatters
Nils Gilman is vice president at the Berggruen Institute and former associate chancellor at the University of California, Berkeley, ngilman@berggruen.org.
California is in the midst of a crisis in higher education. At first glance this may seem paradoxical, as many in California and around the world continue to perceive the UC system in particular as the gold standard for public higher education.
A closer look, however, reveals a myriad of deep, structural problems.
California is in the midst of a crisis in higher education. At first glance, this may seem paradoxical, as many in California and around the world continue to perceive the UC system in particular as the gold standard for public higher education. A closer look, however, reveals a myriad of deep, structural problems.
First, we have an access crisis. The lack of expansion of public universities even as the California population has grown has left California with the fewest public university seats per capita of any state in the country. The UCs have become so difficult to get into that even excellent California students are struggling to gain admissions, even as the UC system has admitted more and more out-of-state students to bring in revenue.