Biosensor Permits Ultra-Fast and Cheap Detection Of SARS-Cov-2

The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic have stimulated innovation on several fronts. One is the development of low-cost methods of clinical diagnosis. Genosensors are a case in point. Based on nucleic acids that detect simple complementary DNA or RNA sequences, genosensors are biosensors that make possible mass testing for immediate and sensitive testing of genetic material.

A device of this kind, already shown to be efficient in detecting SARS-CoV-2, has just been produced in Brazil by a multidisciplinary team of researchers affiliated with various institutions and led by physicist Osvaldo Novais de Oliveira Junior, a professor at the University of São Paulo’s São Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC-USP).

The result of the analysis can be ready in 30 minutes, for a laboratory-scale cost of less than 1 US dollar per genosensor. The components of the impedance analyzer, a durable part of the device, cost less than 200 US dollars. The device already exists at the laboratory scale, and the technology can be transferred to any company with the wherewithal to mass-produce it.

“Our genosensor can immobilize a simple DNA strip used as a capture probe. Under appropriate conditions, the immobilized strip binds to a complementary DNA strip contained in the liquid sample to be analyzed. This process, called hybridization, demonstrates the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the sample, which may be saliva or another body fluid,” chemist Juliana Coatrini Soares told. Soares is the first author of an article describing the research and published in Materials Chemistry Frontiers.

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