A new, easy-to-perform test can detect widely circulating SARS-CoV-2 mutations

Rutgers’ researchers have devised a new rapid test that detects all three of the rapid variants of the rapidly spreading coronavirus in just over an hour – much shorter than the last three to five days. requires routine tests, which can be technically more difficult and expensive to play.

Details and information on how to create and run the rapid test – which is not patented by Rutgers because researchers believe it should be widely available to the public – are published on the pre-printed online server, MedRxiv, and available for free.

The Rutgers researchers clinically designed and validated the experiment, the first to use “highly sensitive molecular beacon probes,” and specific DNA sequences used to detect frequent mutations in organisms.

“This rapid test was developed and tested over a few weeks in an accident program to respond to a real public health need,” said David Alland, director of the Institute of Public Health Research Institute of Rutgers Medical School New Jersey and professor and head of infectious disease at Rutgers NJMS. “Despite our urgency to complete the trial, it performed extremely well with clinical samples in our initial studies. We are very pleased with these results and hope that this trial will help control its the rapidly growing COVID-19 epidemic. “

The new changes appear to be more contagious, isolated in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, more readily available, cause more severe disease and may be more stable for some vaccines. COVID-19 approved.

The new quick test is easy to set up and can be adapted for a laboratory that uses different types of equipment and methods. Rutgers researchers said users are free to use the test as described or modify it as needed, although they strongly recommend that additional testing be performed for any test changes. bith.

Researchers are also working to extend their experiment to make a more precise distinction among the three main viral variants and plan to release a new and larger test record along with supporting evidence in the few. next few weeks. Additional test changes will be released in the future as additional changes emerge.

David Alland, Padmapriya Banada, Soumitesh Chakravorty, Raquel Green and Sukalyani Banik were Rutgers co-researchers who helped develop the experiment.

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Magazine Reference:

Banada, PP, et al. (2021) Rapidly screened RT-PCR simple melting temperature assay for wide-ranging SARS-CoV-2 modifications. MedRxiv. doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.05.21252709.

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