Molecular Diagnostics of Emerging Pathogens

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, human health has been facing an enormous threat due to the emergence of new pathogens, such as highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses, Ebola virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and super-resistant bacteria. For example, SARS-CoV-2 has caused massive health and economic damages worldwide, including over 5 million deaths and a heavy personal and societal healthcare burden. Early and accurate detection of emerging pathogens is essential to prevent infections from spreading and guide effective treatment to the infected individual. It is important to point out that current diagnostic methods for pathogens, such as reverse-transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and sequencing, require tedious procedures (e.g., cell lysis, DNA extraction, and predesigned primers), long processing time, and large instruments for result output. Therefore, more efficient detection methods that support the rapid, sensitive, on-site detection of pathogens on multiple specimen types are urgently needed.

FOCUS

The main focus of this Special Issue is to illustrate the rapid development and advantages of current molecular tools for emerging pathogen identification and to seek the novel molecular detection technology in solving the challenges of highly pathogenic microorganisms in the clinical, environment, and public health areas.

Both original and review articles are welcomed. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

1. Nucleic-acid-based molecular techniques (e.g., CRISPR, digital PCR, microarray assays, next-generation sequencing) for emerging pathogens or highly pathogenic microorganisms;

2. Immunoassay-based molecular techniques (e.g., antibody testing, antigen testing, biomarker testing) for emerging pathogens;

3. Point-of-care testing (POCT) techniques for emerging pathogens, such as lateral flow assay (LFA), microfluidic systems, or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA);

4. Novel molecular microbiology methods as well as the application of existing techniques in new settings.

PURPOSE

We encourage worldwide scholars to devote themselves to the development of high-performance molecular detection methods for important emerging pathogens (e.g., SARS-CoV-2, monkeypox virus, drug-resistance bacteria, Ebola virus, Fungi).

Dr. Chongwen Wang
Dr. Bing Gu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pathogens is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• PCR
• CRISPR
• molecular diagnostics
• POCT
• emerging pathogens
• SARS-CoV-2
• bacteria
• sequencing
• nucleic acid testing
• immunoassay