The Repeated Assay That Turned Two Positives into Twenty

A graduate student in a Reno lab reruns a diagnostic assay until two positives become twenty - how did that repeated assay expose them?

The Repeated Assay That Turned Two Positives into Twenty

In this episode, we present the sequence of events behind a controversial 2009 Science paper and the lab work, people, and decisions that propelled it into the spotlight. What choices and pressures turned two initial positives into a dataset of twenty, and how did that shape patients’ hopes?

Person: Judy Mikovits Location: Reno Date: 2009-10-08 Topic: XMRV and ME/CFS Institution: Whittemore Peterson Institute

- A graduate student ran twenty patient samples through a standard assay late at night in 2008 and initially found two positives. - Instead of stopping, lab conditions were adjusted repeatedly until all twenty samples matched the positive result. - Judy Mikovits returned to research as research director at the privately funded Whittemore Peterson Institute after years outside federal labs. - Collaboration began in 2007 between Mikovits and Robert Silverman, who had co-discovered XMRV in prostate cancer tissue. - The October 8, 2009 Science paper reported XMRV in 67% of ME/CFS patients and became a focal point for patients and the scientific community.

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