Washington: Scientists have created a novel technologies for a CRISPR-primarily based COVID-19 diagnostic test that makes use of a smartphone camera to present correct benefits in below 30 minutes.
According to the study published in the journal Cell, the new diagnostic test can not only produce a good or damaging outcome, it also measures the viral load – the concentration of virus – in a offered sample.
All CRISPR diagnostics to date have needed that the viral RNA be converted to DNA and amplified just before it can be detected, adding time and complexity, the researchers stated.
In contrast, the new method skips all the conversion and amplification methods, working with CRISPR to straight detect the viral RNA, they stated. “One reason we are excited about CRISPR-based diagnostics is the potential for quick, accurate results at the point of need,” stated Jennifer Doudna, a senior investigator at Gladstone Institutes in the US.
“This is especially helpful in places with limited access to testing, or when frequent, rapid testing is needed. It could eliminate a lot of the bottlenecks we’ve seen with COVID-19,” Doudna stated.
Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for co-discovering CRISPR-Cas genome editing, the technologies that underlies this work.
In the new test, the Cas13 protein is combined with a reporter molecule that becomes fluorescent when reduce, and then mixed with a patient sample from a nasal swab, the researchers stated.
The sample is placed in a device that attaches to a smartphone. If the sample consists of RNA from SARS-CoV-2, Cas13 will be activated and will reduce the reporter molecule, causing the emission of a fluorescent signal, they stated.
The smartphone camera, primarily converted into a microscope, can detect the fluorescence and report that a swab tested positive for the virus, according to the researchers.They say that the assay could be adapted to a selection of mobile phones, producing the technologies very easily accessible.