Rapid COVID19 Detection is Expected to Improve Accuracy

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University have been working to develop a CRISPR-based COVID-19 diagnostic program that can produce results in 30 minutes to an hour with accuracy and The standard PCR diagnostic procedures used today are similar.

The Covid-19 Rapid Test is still in the research stage, but in principle it can be made cheaply, and people can conduct self-tests every day. In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers showed that in a group of patient samples, their test found 93% of positive cases, which was determined by PCR testing for COVID-19 .

Covid-19 Rapid Test

Omar Abudayyeh, a researcher at MIT McGovern, said: "We need to test quickly to be part of this situation so that people can test themselves every day, which will slow down the outbreak."

Soon after the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, Zhang Feng's laboratory began to cooperate with Abudayyeh and Gootenberg laboratories for COVID-19 diagnosis. They focused on developing a detection method called STOPCovid, which is easy to perform and does not require any specialized laboratory equipment. They hope that this test will be suitable for future use in a variety of environments, such as doctor's offices, pharmacies, nursing homes and schools.

Specifically, researchers add magnetic beads that attract RNA to concentrate viral genetic material in patient samples, eliminating the need for time-consuming and expensive expensive purification kits. Due to the large demand. This concentration step increases the sensitivity of the test until it approaches the sensitivity of PCR.

Gootenberg said: "Once the viral genome is coupled to the beads, we found that this allows us to achieve high sensitivity."

The researchers worked with partners Keith Jerome of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Alex Greninger of the University of Washington to perform rapid COVID-19 tests on 402 patient samples (202 positive and 200 negative) and found new The accuracy of the detection method reached 93%.

The Covid-19 Rapid Test Provider indicated that, in collaboration with Ann Woolley and Deb Hung of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the COVID-19 rapid test is applicable to samples collected using a less invasive anterior nostril swab. They are now testing with saliva samples, which can make testing at home easier. Researchers are continuing to develop the test and hope to deliver it to users to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic.