This $2 Test Can Accurately Detect COVID-19 Antibodies in an Hour

Scientists developed a pinprick test that reliably tests the concentration of coronavirus antibodies in the blood under one hour as vaccines became more readily available. And it'll just cost you $2!

Israeli Laboratory Leads Western World In Blood Testing

(Photo: David Silverman/Getty Images)
NES TSIONA, ISRAEL - JANUARY 22: A laboratory technician places human blood samples on an automated testing line at the Maccabi Health Services HMO central testing laboratory on January 22, 2006, in Nes Tsiona which is located in central Israel. The laboratory, which operates a fully automated system complete with advanced robotics, can test more than 50,000 blood samples a day. The lab is considered one of the most modern of its kind in the western world.

With funding from U of T's Toronto COVID-19 Action Fund, a study team led by Igor Stagljar started developing a new tool for testing coronavirus immunity in those who recovered from COVID-19.

The team has worked with public health authorities and blood banks across Canada to confirm the test using blood tests from former COVID-19 patients.

They published their findings in the journal Nature Communications. The study title is "A Homogeneous Split-Luciferase Assay for Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Anti-Sars Cov-2 Antibodies."

Why Did They Make a COVID-19 Pinprick Test?

Stagljar, biochemistry and molecular genetics professor at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine's Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research said the test detects low levels of IgG antibodies and has the same false-positive rate as the antibody tests on the market.

Studies at the population level would show the length of coronavirus immunity among patients experiencing asymptomatic to serious COVID-19 cases. They can also show the minimum antibody level needed for protection following natural infection and vaccination.

According to SciTechDaily, the FDA-approved serological tests with ELISA-based methods served as the gold standard for calculating antibody concentration to measure individual immune response activity.

ALSO READ: Can Farts Spread Disease Like COVID-19? Here's What Australian Researchers Claim!

However, it requires six hours to complete multiple laboratory measures, rendering it unsuitable for rapid diagnostics. More straightforward procedures, such as paternity testing with test strips, have immediate results but are less quantitative and accurate.

How Does COVID-19 Pinprick Test Work?

SATiN stands for Serological Assay based on split Tripart Nanoluciferase, and it is the name of the modern procedure. The first COVID-19 serology test uses highly sensitive protein complementation chemistry, with a test readout of a light-emitting luciferase protein reconstituted from different fragments.

Initially, luciferase is supplied in fragments that do not glow of their own. One piece is bound to the viral spike protein, which antibodies bind to neutralize the virus. The other is a bacterial protein with which antibodies also interact.

The antibody helps lock luciferase fragments together into an entire molecule by binding to both the coronavirus spike protein and the bacterial protein at the same time.

A pulse of light happens, the duration of which is detected by a plate reader instrument and transformed into antibody concentration. Both reagents can be made from scratch and in large quantities, lowering costs.

Intellectual Property on the Way

Stagljar is now partnering with the University of Toronto's intellectual property office and Toronto Tech Acceleration Collaborators to establish business partners to help spread the process.

"It's really useful to have that quantitative ability to know what someone's antibody status is, whether it's from past infection or vaccination. This will be of crucial importance for the next stage of the pandemic, especially now when governments of all countries started with mass vaccinations with recently approved anti-COVID-19 vaccines," Stagljar said.