A. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a laboratory technique used for copying and replicating a piece of DNA unique to a targeted pathogen using select reagents. With each step of the reaction, the number of DNA molecules increases exponentially and in just a few hours of running the reaction, hundreds of thousands to millions of […]

A. When heated, the strands of the Double Helix separate.  Lower temperatures cause them to rejoin with the nucleotides and regain the double helical structure. This is known as an amplification cycle. The sequences of DNA molecules associated with the unique target pathogen are detected by PCR during several amplification cycles.

A1.  Diagnose early and treat appropriately diseases marked by fastidious pathogens A2.  Determine antimicrobial treatment that considers detected antibiotic resistance markers A3.  Detect and treat slower growing gram+ organisms. A4.  Detect and treat polymicrobial infections A5.   Detect and treat mixed infections A6.   Detect bacteria, viruses and fungi with one test