Agnostic Diagnostics and the Future of ASM Health With Dev Mittar
From Meet the Microbiologist by Ashley Hagen, M.S.
May 30, 2025 · 42 min · Episode 165
About this episode
Dev Mittar discusses the development of agnostic diagnostic technology using metagenomic next generation sequencing to diagnose infectious diseases.
Dev Mittar, Ph.D ., Scientific Director of the ASM Health Scientific Unit discusses the use of metagenomic next generation sequencing to develop agnostic diagnostic technology, giving scientists and clinicians alike, a tool to diagnose any infectious disease with one single test. He also discusses how the ASM Health Unit is empowering scientists and leveraging microbial science innovations to address critical global health challenges and improve lives worldwide. Ashley's Biggest Takeaways The Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures is a small entrepreneurial arm of BARDA that takes on early-stage projects with high potential of turning into medical countermeasures. Prior to his role as Scientific Director for ASM Health, Mittar worked as a health scientist and program officer at DRIVe, where he focused on advancing high-impact science. He is particularly passionate about his work to develop agnostic diagnostics—a single test that uses metagenomic next generation sequencing to identify any pathogen from 1 clinical sample. Mittar discusses applications for this technology in surveillance (pandemic preparedness), variant detection, AMR and clinical settings (diagnosing…
People in this episode
Guest: Dev Mittar Ph D
Topics covered
- metagenomic next generation sequencing
- agnostic diagnostics
- infectious disease
- global health challenges
Keywords
- ASM Health
- microbial science
- pandemic preparedness
- variant detection
- AMR
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