Researchers develop a fast, accurate, low-cost COVID-19 test

Date:
August 27, 2020
Source:
PLOS
Summary:
A new low-cost diagnostic test for coronavirus disease 2019
(COVID-19) quickly delivers accurate results without the need for
sophisticated equipment, according to a new study.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A new low-cost diagnostic test for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
quickly delivers accurate results without the need for sophisticated
equipment, according to a study published August 27 2020 in the
open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Teng Xu of the Vision Medicals
Center for Infectious Diseases, Tieying Hou of the Guangdong Academy of
Medical Sciences, Bing Gu of the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Jianwei Wang of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and
Peking Union Medical College, and colleagues.


==========================================================================
The surging demand for rapid screening and identification of COVID-19
poses great diagnostic challenges. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR) have been the most commonly
used molecular methods for diagnosing COVID-19, but each has its own limitations. For example, sequencing is costly and has a turnaround
time of nearly one day, while RT-PCR requires specialized equipment and
is difficult to deploy at a large scale. A lack of rapid and accurate
molecular diagnostic tools has hampered efficient public health responses
to the viral threat.

In the new study, the researchers developed an alternative COVID-19
test by leveraging CRISPR-based technology, which has been widely used
in recent years for gene editing. The assay, named CRISPR-COVID, enables high-throughput detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus
2 (SARS-CoV-2) - - the virus that causes COVID-19. CRISPR-COVID
delivers comparable sensitivity and specificity as mNGS within as
short as 40 minutes. When produced at a large scale, the material cost
of a CRISPR-COVID test could be less than 70 cents, suggesting that CRISPR-COVID is a competitive alternative not only technologically but
also financially.

The authors note, "In this study, we developed an isothermal, CRISPR-based diagnostic for COVID-19 with near single-copy sensitivity." and "We demonstrated a CRISPR-based assay for COVID-19 that offered shorter
turn-around time and great diagnostic value, even in under-resourced
settings without the need of thermal cyclers."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by PLOS. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Tieying Hou, Weiqi Zeng, Minling Yang, Wenjing Chen, Lili Ren,
Jingwen
Ai, Ji Wu, Yalong Liao, Xuejing Gou, Yongjun Li, Xiaorui Wang,
Hang Su, Bing Gu, Jianwei Wang, Teng Xu. Development and evaluation
of a rapid CRISPR-based diagnostic for COVID-19. PLOS Pathogens,
2020; 16 (8): e1008705 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008705 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200827141317.htm

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