Researchers are constantly looking for faster and easier ways to detect the new coronavirus (COVID-19). New research invents a technique that uses CRISPR gene editing and a smartphone camera for detection instead of sophisticated laboratory equipment.
The study, published Dec. 4, 2020, in the journal Cell, invented this new detection method. The research team included Jennifer Doudna, a 2020 Nobel laureate in chemistry.
The study describes mixing a sample obtained by wiping gills with Cas13, a biochemical enzyme that recognizes the genetic material of novel new coronaviruses, plus another molecular material that glows when sheared.
The mixture is placed on a device mounted on a smartphone. If the mixture contains the gene for the new coronavirus, the biochemical enzyme will find the virus and cut it up – eliminating the time-consuming steps of virus purification required by other detection methods.
The biochemical enzyme also cuts through that additional molecular material, causing it to glow. The smartphone’s camera detects this glowing signal and determines the presence of the virus inside.
The smartphone camera can detect the fluorescent signal within minutes, quickly and reliably, and is about ten times more sensitive than laboratory testing equipment,” said co-investigator Melanie Ott of the University of California, San Francisco. And, again, smartphones are portable, go-anywhere devices that also have the ability to track infected individuals by satellite location.”
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