How a little-known Bay Area company helped root out the first omicron case in the U.S.

When UCSF scientists detected the first U.S. case of the omicron variant of the coronavirus early Wednesday, the discovery came after a critical assist from a little-known company headquartered 30 minutes south of San Francisco. The firm, Color, collected and processed the nasal sample from the person who was later found to be the first omicron case in the country. Color executive Scott Topper personally drove the sample from Color's lab in Burlingame to UCSF's Mission Bay lab, where scientists used genome-sequencing technology to confirm that the sample did indeed have the omicron mutations . It was no coincidence that Color, a privately held company that before COVID -19 was best known for selling at-home genetic tests — saliva kits used to detect hereditary cancers and cardiovascular conditions — played a critical role in helping root out the new variant. In the early days of the pandemic, Color made a name for itself providing two key things that local health departments desperately needed: test supplies and fast lab turnaround time. Color planted its first testing flag in San Francisco, where it helped set up the city's first drive-thru testing site at the Embarcadero, which would become one of the busiest… Read full this story

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