Narrator: This is Science Today. Imagine being able to know you were going to get sick even before the onset of symptoms? That kind of early intervention is the ultimate hope and goal of a new university-laboratory consortium led by researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Project co-leader Ken Turteltaub says the first phase is to study whether diseases can be detected in humans through molecular signatures.

Turteltaub: If we could take a blood sample or you could prick your finger and get a sense of whether you are actually coming down with something or not. 245 From a medical person’s standpoint, to be able to tell if you are coming down with something bacterial or viral has a big impact on what could be done to treat you.

Narrator: Turteltaub explains that the group has a long-term vision.

Turteltaub: It involves, in the early stages, applied science – how do we get diagnostics and assays in place to be able to do the ‘before you’re sick’ detection. And then the long term is a much more basic science thing – how do we understand the underlying biochemistry that’s going on that causes those changes that we’re seeing.

Narrator: For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.