Photo of the Week: FAA Functional Genomics Fingerstick for Safety Diagnostics

The Photo of the Week visually showcases the exciting work federal labs do every day! 

About this photo:

The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Functional Genomics Research Team is evaluating approaches to obtain RNA samples from small samples of blood. After a fingerstick, a few drops of blood are transferred to a collection vial. Quantity and quality of extracted RNA is compared to traditional blood tube draws. Fingerstick collection approaches could minimize the burden on study subjects for research, and make point of care diagnostics easier in the field. The team aims to couple such technologies with its research on genetics performance biomarkers, generating novel diagnostics of aviation safety risks such as fatigue and drug use in pilots.

Photo credit: IZone Crew at CAMI

About the federal lab:

The Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) is the medical certification, education, research, and occupational medicine wing of the Office of Aerospace Medicine under the FAA’s Office of Aviation Safety. The mission of the Aerospace Medical Research Division is “to develop new and innovative ways to support FAA regulatory and advisory missions to improve the safety of humans in civilian aerospace operations” by applying science, medicine, bioengineering and technology.