Measles Point-of-Care Testing: Coin Size Device Could Detect Virus From Saliva in Under 30 Minutes

Advanced Functional Materials introduced a coin-sized device, about a size of a US quarter, that may detect measles in human saliva. It is a single-use laboratory instrument where a sample of saliva is collected from the patient. Then the saliva is injected into the device. It only takes 15 to 30 minutes or even less to detect the virus.

(Photo : Kristine Wook/Unsplash)
Man in blue scrub suit

Measles Device Can Detect Virus Using Saliva and Sound

Researchers from the Italian National Research Council refer to their invention as a "lab-on-a-chip" device. It was tested and validated by loading the virus into healthy human saliva.

Italian National Research Council's Nanoscience Institute senior author and senior researcher, Marco Cecchini, told UPI in an email that the instrument is a surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) resonator, which is a sort of drum but with a specific sound. It is classified as a biosensor.

Essays in Biochemistry authors defined a biosensor as a device that could measure chemical and biological reactions by generating signals proportional to the analyte's concentration in the reaction.

Cecchini explained that when the virus was attached to the surface of the sensor, it modified the propagation velocity of the device. Then it changed the sound of the drum. The modification is detected by a simple electrical measurement. He said that through this process they were able to correlate the changes to the concentration of the virus in the sample.

The biosensing detection performance of the SAW resonator is tested while the device sensitivity and selectivity are assessed.

"Our technology for the first time demonstrated the synergic operation of different surface-acoustic-wave-based micro devices on the same chip, in the context of lab-on-a-chip biosensing. In this way we have been able to drastically improve the detection limit of our sensors, potentially enabling early point-of-care diagnostic applications," Cecchin said.

Measle is one of the most infectious viruses in the world with a reproduction rate between 12-18. It is six times more contagious than the Alpha variant of SARS-COV-2. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,300 measles cases were reported in 31 states in the US despite that it was declared eliminated in the country.

ALSO READ: Newly Discovered Virus Suggest That German Measles Might've Come From Animals

Measles Device Point-of-Care Testing Applications

Cecchini looked forward to its other applications, for example, physicians using the device to detect measles in their patience. It could also work like the Covid and antigen tests where patients can use it by themselves. The researcher said that their invention might enable early point-of-care diagnostic applications.

He added that the sensing technology could be tailored for other applications. It could be done by changing the surface chemistry of the microresonators, which are the active elements of the chip. According to him, other viruses could be tested like the SARS-COV-2.

However, the research team has not yet tested whether it could detect the virus even before a person displays visible signs of the illness. Cecchini said that the research is a proof-of-concept study, and the device's practical application may take a while. When it comes to commercialization, the team needs funding for clinical trial testing in industrial development.

Cecchini's team had several projects in different fields like the detection of polyphenols in wine and olive oil, legionella in water, and protein disease biomarkers in blood.