Helicase
About the Founder
Helicase was founded in 2016 by Dr. Thadeus Koontz M.D., Ph.D. soon after graduation from a research track residency at Duke University. While at Duke, Dr. Koontz obtained both the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Nugen corporate genomic grants to perform early metagenomic research on potential infectious causes of multiple sclerosis. He hopes to continue that work in the future but has turned his attention to the more immediate clinical needs of our communities to combat the covid-19 pandemic. In graduate school, Dr. Koontz was awarded prestigious university virology grants for his work in the pediatric molecular virology lab of Dr. W.J. ‘Bill’ Britt M.D. who developed a project to learn how cytomegalovirus can cause brain birth defects in children who acquire the infection in utero.
This all culminated in a personal experience with his then 4-year-old daughter, who was severely ill and experienced debilitating symptoms from an unknown cause. After several different failed medication trials, emergency room visits, and endoscopy procedures, Dr. Koontz requested a multiplex viral molecular test where the infectious cause was identified and finally a prognosis and course of action could be taken with certainty. This was the final motivation to provide the same service to everyday medicine. His goal is to make this kind of testing more widely available to all patients with unknown infections.
https://www.helicase.org/
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