The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasized that a robust and responsive testing infrastructure is essential in the fight against COVID-19. A coronavirus test may be incorporated as part of a comprehensive approach to reducing transmission.
It is the second step in identifying people infected with SARS-CoV-2 after symptom screening and followed by contact tracing to slow and stop the spread of the virus. Available tests include rapid antigen tests and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
Now, a newly developed coronavirus test from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) can analyze a large number of samples and is 100 times more sensitive than the rapid antigen tests. Laboratory tests also showed that it is as sensitive as the qPCR test, offering great potential for testing in setting like in daycare centers, schools, or companies.
Coronavirus Test LAMP-Seq Can Detect SARS-CoV-2 and Its Variants
The study, "LAMP-Seq enables sensitive, multiplexed COVID-19 diagnostics using molecular barcoding" published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, describes a new coronavirus test that offers a possibility to test many people who might have contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The innovative coronavirus test is called the LAMP-Seq test, which can detect about 100 times lower amounts of the virus than rapid antigen tests and is as sensitive as the qPCR test, Phys.org reported.
Dr. Johann Schmid-Burgk, a professor from the university's Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology, said that the LAMP-Seq uses sequencing machines to analyze thousands of samples simultaneously aside from being a highly sensitive test.
More so, Schmid-Burgk added that the new coronavirus test does not only detect the original SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but it can also detect novel variants from alpha to delta.
LAMP-Seq Coronavirus Test Suited for Mass Testing
According to Phys.org, scientists have adapted the Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) method and made it compatible with sequencing methods to enable it to analyze thousands of samples, which are linked to a molecular barcode that assigns each of them without a doubt. In this way, it eliminates retesting the entire pool, reduces the cost per test compared to the qPCR test, and makes LAMP-Seq a scalable mass test.
Dr. Kerstin Ludwig, Emmy-Noether group leader at the Institute of Human Genetics, added that the high sensitivity and throughput of the LAMP-Seq coronavirus test could make a significant contribution in screening undetected infections, like in schools or companies where people regularly meet and transmission is highly possible.
In agreement, UKB Medical Director and CEO Professor Wolfgang Holzgreve explains that the benefits of the novel coronavirus test for surveillance could effectively contain a pandemic as infected people are tested and found before they infect others.
That is exactly the reason LAMP-Seq was developed as it could be used in mass testing with its high sensitivity that can give a detailed picture of existing infections.
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