Written By: Satata Karmakar | Published : February 26, 2021 9:24 PM IST
Now you can diagnose COVID-19 in less than 55 minutes: Here's how
COVID-19 cases are again rising in the country and therefore it is very important to make sure that everybody is getting diagnosed properly to make sure the fatality rate is under control. No, you don't have to go to a hospital and stand in a long queue. Then what? A team of researchers has developed a stamp-sized chip that may help diagnose Covid-19 in just 55 minutes.
According to the researchers, this tool can help diagnose COVID-19 in 55 minutes or less with the help of programmed magnetic nanobeads and a diagnostic tool that plugs into an off-the-shelf cell phone.
They added that when this chip is paired with a plug-in potentiostat, it is also capable of delivering a positive diagnosis with a concentration as low as 230 picograms for whole serum.
"What's great about this device is that it doesn't require a laboratory," said Lillehoj.
"You can perform the entire test and generate the results at the collection site, health clinic, or even a pharmacy. The entire system is easily transportable and easy to use," Lillehoj added.
The stamp-sized microfluidic chip measures the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein in blood serum from a standard finger prick.
The nanobeads bind to SARS-CoV-2 N protein, a biomarker for Covid-19, in the chip and transport it to an electrochemical sensor that detects minute amounts of the biomarker.
The researchers say that process simplifies sample handling compared to swab-based PCR tests that are widely used to diagnose Covid-19 and need to be analyzed in a laboratory.
For the study, the team took advantage of existing biosensing tools and combined them with their own experience in developing simple diagnostics, like a microneedle patch introduced last year to diagnose malaria.
The new tool relies on a slightly more complex detection scheme but delivers accurate, quantitative results in a short span of time. To test the device, the lab relied on donated serum samples from people who were healthy and others who were Covid-19 positive.
The lab found that 55 minutes was an optimum amount of time for the microchip to sense SARS-CoV-2 N protein at concentrations as low as 50 picograms (billionths of a gram) per millilitre in whole serum.
The microchip could detect N protein in even lower concentrations, at 10 picograms per millilitre, in only 25 minutes by diluting the serum fivefold, the team said.
