A Journey into Pooled Testing: What Happens to my Saliva Sample?

Mirimus, Wellesley's COVID testing partner lab since October, was established in 2010 with the goal of creating a scalable and cost effective pipeline for model generation by harnessing the power of RNAi and CRISPR technologies to develop animal models which are crucial for preclinical evaluation of new therapeutics. Through cutting edge technology, powerful predictive tools, and vital partnerships, Mirimus is paving the path to develop safer and more effective therapeutics by pin-pointing potential toxicities, validation, and disease modeling.

In 2020, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mirimus' team of experts mobilized their scientific expertise to develop a safe, regular, affordable, and non-invasive testing methodology. The testing protocol, SalivaClear, is successful in detecting and monitoring SARS-COV-2 infection within communities around the country, allowing them to return to in-person operations. Mirimus’ goal is to facilitate the re-opening of the US economy by increasing access to testing and preventing large-scale outbreaks. Most recently, Mirimus was selected from more than 700 teams to win the grand prize in XPRIZE Rapid COVID Testing Competition.

Dr. Premsrirut is a founder and has served as President and CEO of Mirimus, Inc. since 2010. She is a pioneer in RNAi therapeutic design and CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology implementation for preclinical studies. In 2016, Mirimus became the North American partner for model creation services in Charles River Laboratories, a global contract research organization providing nearly 1 of every 2 animals used in research worldwide. Dr. Premsrirut has received more than $4M in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grants from the National Institutes of Health, Office of Research and Infrastructure Programs and the National Cancer Institute to further develop RNAi applications in higher organisms. Dr. Premsrirut was an MD/PhD Medical Scientist fellow at the SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where she received extensive training in the fields of medicine, trauma surgery, cancer genetics and molecular biology. Her research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the lab of Dr. Scott Lowe (currently Chair of the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) specifically focused on determining the role of tumor suppressor genes in tumor maintenance of lung adenocarcinoma. She received a B.A. in Molecular Cell Biology and Biochemistry from UC Berkeley. She was a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Scholar in Entrepreneurship at Babson College. Dr. Premsrirut is also currently an Assistant Research Professor of SUNY Downstate Medical School, serves as a Board Member of NY BIO, a life science trade organization connecting scientists, pharma, and biotechnology companies to local and state representatives, as well as a Board Member of BioBAT, a non-profit joint venture between the Economic Development Center of New York City and SUNY Downstate Medical Center that operates a Science and Technology incubator with 230,000 square feet available for high tech industrial space for growing life science companies.