Amid the raging Coronavirus pandemic, the healthcare system is overwhelmed in several countries. These daily numbers depend on various factors like the pace of testing, duration between
tests and their results, etc. To decrease the time of result-waiting and speed up the testing process, scientists have developed an innovative method of Covid testing that gives results in a second.
Researchers from the University of Florida and Taiwan’s National Chiao Tung University have developed a rapid and sensitive testing method for Covid 19. The new sensor system detects viruses within one second.
The system is described in ‘Journal of Vaccum Science and Technology B’.
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“This could elevate slow Covid19 testing turnaround time issues,” said Minghan Xian, study author and a doctoral candidate at the University of Florida. “Our biosensor strip is similar to commercially available glucose test strips in shape, with a small microfluidic channel at the tip to introduce our test fluid. Within the microfluidic channel, a few electrodes are exposed to fluid. One is coated with gold, and Cvod relevant antibodies are attached to the gold surface via a chemical method,” he added.
During the measurement, sensor strips are attached to a circuit board via a connector. Short electrical test signals get sent between the gold electrode bonded with the Covid antibody and another auxiliary electrode. This signal them returned to the circuit board for analysis.
“The magnitude of this number depends on the concentration of antigen, the viral protein, present within our test solution,” said Xian.
The sensor strips must be discarded after use and the test circuit board is reusable.