Combining throat and nasal swabs in respiratory testing is critical to improve clinical sensitivity and protect vulnerable groups. See our commentary in CID (, a collaboration with Dr. Timothy Stenzel, the former director of the @US_FDA Office of In Vitro Diagnostics, and led by @alex_winnett, a talented MD/PhD student. We urge testing manufacturers to validate tests for use with combination nasal-throat swab specimens for antigen and molecular COVID-19 testing. We urge more research into enhanced detection of other respiratory viruses like flu and RSV via combined throat-nasal tests. #PandemicResponse #InfectiousDisease #PublicHealth #RapidTesting #VirusDetection #Diagnostics

News coverage of our lab's Human Virome Project: We are looking for outstanding grad students and postdocs to work on this project. See our lab's website to learn more and apply:

We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher to work on our #NIH funded Human Virome Project. This postdoctoral position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to the development, validation, and deployment of cutting-edge experimental methods for virome enrichment, detection, identification, and quantification from complex biological samples. See more details at the Science Careers posting ( and on our lab website ( #Caltech #postdocposition

RT @CaltechCCE: We’re looking for talented, driven graduate students to join our growing Chemical Engineering Ph.D. program at @Caltech !…

Ismagilov Lab at #Caltech has multiple Graduate Student positions available including as part of the #NIH #HumanViromeProgram, and our global-health projects focused on host-microbe interactions in human tissues, such as in #mycobiome, #diagnosticdevices, #biophysics of the gut, #womenshealth, an exciting combination of #AI and #bioinformatics technologies, and more. See our lab's Projects page for more details at Please apply directly to one of Caltech’s graduate programs at (our lab takes students from ChemE, BioE, Biology, Chem, BMB, MedE) and indicate your interest in our lab in your statement. Deadlines are Dec 1.

@TimStenzel

We are hiring a full-time Research Lab Technician for a 2-year term position. The successful candidate will contribute to many ongoing projects of high priority in the lab, including those focused on the gut microbiome and on infectious-disease diagnostics. Please see the full position description and instructions for applying at

Michael Porter ( is a terrific graduating Caltech ChemEng PhD student, seeking a biotech job in the Bay Area. Four reasons to hire him: 1) Michael is an effective scientist and engineer who has mastered and made impact across a broad range of fields, from new analytical methods and NGS to polymer biophysics to microbial analyses. 2) Michael is effective at all technical levels, including experimental design, experimental execution, project structuring, and leadership.  3) Michael has rigorous and broad training in the fundamentals of Chemical Engineering from one of the most demanding PhD programs. He has leveraged this training in multiple publications. 4) Michael puts his team and the impact of his work first, above his own ego. During the Pandemic, with colleagues he stepped up to develop and run the Caltech COVID-19 study ( which involved a grueling schedule running countless PCR COVID-19 tests for our community. He also safely worked with live SARS-CoV-2 virus with exquisite technique; he earned the trust of his colleagues who said they felt safer being next to Michael working with Covid samples than being in a grocery store. At a time when some grad students were unwilling to even come to campus, it was inspiring to see Michael volunteer to work so hard and so competently to support his team and his community.

Our lab at Caltech is hiring a Research Scientist in Bioinformatics! Do you have a strong drive to advance the frontiers of knowledge, develop new technologies, impact human health, and mentor the next generation of researchers? Apply now:

Also, because viral loads in nasal swabs and throat swabs do not correlate over time, we infer that a combination throat-nasal swab specimen – with validation by test manufacturers and methods for safe self-collection - could substantially improve rapid antigen test performance.

(F) And finally, we've found that individuals can achieve high, presumably infectious viral loads in throat swabs or saliva days before nasal swabs achieve these levels. Nasal swab rapid antigen tests would likely result negative during this infectious period.