In a new study, researcher Chao Wang from the Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute and School of Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering, together with colleagues from ASU and collaborators at the University of Washington, Seattle, described a new approach for detecting viruses, including the Ebola virus and COVID-19.
According to a Phys.org report, fatal infectious diseases like Ebola and SARS-CoV-2 have occurred to cause pervasive human devastation.
Even though researchers have developed a variety of sophisticated approaches to detect such diseases, present diagnostics face many limitations.
The new technique called "Nano2RED" is described in the report as a "clever twist on conventional" high-preciseness tests depending on multifaceted testing protocols, not to mention expensive readout systems.
The 'Nano2' In-Solution
In their study published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics, the researchers specified that "in-solution nanosensors," also called "Nano2," serve to identify disease antigens in a specimen by simple mixing.
The groundbreaking RED or Rapid and Electronic Readout process developed in the Wang lab delivers test results, detectable as a color change in the specimen solution, and record the data by means of inexpensive semiconductor elements like photodetectors and LEDs.
Additionally, the technology signifies a substantial advancement in combating infectious diseases. It can be developed and produced at low cost, set out within weeks or a few days following an outbreak, and made available for about a cent for each test.
Compared with the commonly use high-accuracy lab tests like ELISA, the study authors said in their research that Nano2RED is more user-friendly.
It does not need washing or surface incubation, amplification, or dye labeling, and yet, it still provides roughly ten times better sensitivity than ELISA.
The Ability to Detect Secreted Glycoprotein
This innovative approach can detect the so-called "sGP," a telltale fingerprint of the Ebola virus and COVID-19 spike protein receptor-binding domain or RBD.
Developers of this technology describe their work as "highly accurate," competing against ELISA, a long-accepted and known benchmark technology for diagnostic testing.
As specified in the ASU report, the basic notion for such diagnostics called immunoassays is simple. This means that a blood sample or other biological fluids are applied to the assay, decked with antibodies.
When such antibodies recognize the existence of a related disease antigen in the specimen, they bind with it, generating a positive test result.
Delivery of Results
Nano2RED also depends on binding affinity for a positive diagnosis, although it uses floating gold nanoparticles instead for readout.
This technology can be developed from scratch in approximately ten days and is ideally applicable for any pathogen, offering vitally essential early surveillance in the event of a disease outbreak.
Furthermore, Nano2RED delivers test results in 15 to 20 minutes, and it may be administered at approximately a penny for each test.
In this current research, the new test was shown to identify the sGP of the Ebola virus in serum with sensitivity approximately ten times better than
The new test was shown to detect Ebola's sGP in serum with a sensitivity roughly ten times better than ELISA in the current study.
Related information about nanosensors is shown on NBC News Learn's YouTube video below:
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Check out more news and information on Ebola Virus in Science Times.
