Rob Stein

Many localities require a negative coronavirus test for various activities, such as traveling or visiting an older relative. But finding a test with a quick enough turnaround can be challenging.

The first gene therapy for hemophilia could be approved by the FDA within six months, according to the drugmaker, raising hopes among families. But the drug’s price could be $3 million per patient.

The program shipping swabs and other supplies to labs is one of the Trump administration’s efforts to ensure sufficient coronavirus testing. But some of these supplies have turned out to be hazardous.

As more and more people get tested for antibodies to the coronavirus, infectious disease specialists worry that those tested — and their employers — may not understand the limits of the results.

An antigen test could be quick, and much simpler and cheaper than the PCR tests now used to spot people infected with the novel coronavirus. But some scientists worry about an antigen test’s accuracy.

An NPR science correspondent answers listener questions about testing for COVID-19, immunity and how testing capacity affects plans to reopen the country.

There’s been a bottleneck in testing for the new coronavirus because of problems with the test kits the CDC has distributed to labs around the U.S.

A problem with one ingredient in test kits that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention distributed to labs around the U.S. had created a frustrating bottleneck.

Researchers edited the DNA in bone marrow cells taken from a Mississippi woman with sickle cell disease to produce a treatment that could alleviate the excruciating effects of her inherited illness.