A COVID-19 test prototype developed by French researchers reportedly delivers faster, accurate results like PCR tests without the need for lab processing.
More than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists and researchers are still struggling to cope with the onslaught of the virus. Luckily COVID-19 vaccine rollouts are set in the near future. On the other hand, researchers believe that to curb the virus, faster detection is also key.
COVID-19 Test Prototype, Faster and Accurate
A team of French researchers has just developed a coronavirus test prototype that, according to the initial trial date, delivers accurate results three times faster than currently used rapid lateral flow antigen tests.
The electrochemical tests developed uses nanobodies from a camelid group of animals, which returns results in under 10 minutes, in earlier tests of 300 samples, and provided 90% accurate results similar to PCR tests for both positive and negative.
The COVID-19 test prototypes were developed by scientists from Lille and Marseille Universities and the French National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS).
Researchers boast that unlike PCR tests commonly used today, the new prototype doesn't require laboratory processing wherein the results can be read via smartphone.
David Devos, a pharmacology professor from the University of Lille involved in the development of the tests tells local media, "It could be mss-produced very quickly, and has obvious applications in hospitals and airports but also for pharmacists and family doctors."
The device developed by researchers can be connected to a smartphone detecting the presence of COVID-19 in the sample. An innovative device that will make it easier to detect coronavirus which would be a necessity should society proceed with the new normal.
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COVID-19 Test Prototype vs The Norm
PCR or polymerase chain reaction tests are the most reliable and widely used mode of detecting coronavirus. However, it is both expensive and entails a lengthy lab processing that forces patients to wait up to 48 hours for the results.
Cheap lateral flow antigen tests that use nasal or throat swabs on liquid paper strips deliver results in less than a half-hour. However, it is the subject of much-heated debate regarding its ability to detect minimal viral loads--or the amount of virus in your body.
The newly developed French prototype named, CorDial-1, uses a completely novel technology. Tiny antibody particles, or nanobodies, immobilized on an electrode act as an "electrochemical biosensor," explains Sabine Szunerits, a professor of nano-medicine and biosensor specialist at the University of Lille.
The prototype is slated to undergo a three-month trial on 1,000 patients using nanobodies sourced from camelid animals--that included llamas, alpacas, and camels--mainly due to the stability of the antibodies compared to other animals.
The nanobodies can detect spike proteins that are characteristic of the COVID-19 virus, changing the electric current on the electrode. The change is thereby measured by the device the size of a USB key, which displays the results in under 10 minutes on attached smartphones as a signal graph.
Szunerits tells BFMTV, that the height of the signal will determine whether the sample was negative or positive. She adds that further development will soon be able to render viral load and cope with various COVID-19 mutations.
There are different types of COVID-19 tests, but the CorDial-1 may just be the most effective test in the long run.
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