Scientists are developing a smartphone app that detects COVID-19 in saliva in about 10 minutes.
The technology repairs a phone with a small microscope that analyzes a saliva sample for evidence of the virus.
Designed by the University of Arizona, the team’s goal is to combine antigen test speed with polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test accuracy.
The technology was originally developed as a cheap way to identify norovirus, but has changed in the face of chronic pandemic disease.
Scroll down for video
Scientists at the University of Arizona have developed a smartphone app that works with a microscope to test saliva samples for COVID-19. The process only takes about 10 to 15 minutes and the parts cost around $ 45
The process, reported in the journal Nature Protocols, consists of a microscope and a wax-coated sheet, called microfluidic paper, which guides the sample through special channels.
After placing a saliva sample on the paper, a patient injects antibodies with fluorescent beads.
If enough coronavirus granules are present, antibodies will be attached to each one.
‘Under a microscope, the pathogen particles reveal as few lumps of fluorescent beads, which the user can then count,’ explained the researchers.
After placing a saliva sample on a sheet of microfluidic paper, the user injects antibodies with fluorescent beads. If enough coronavirus granules are present, the antibodies will be attached to each one. The viral particles look like small lumps of fluorescent beads, which can then be counted by the user
According to the researchers, the whole process – adding beads to the sample, soaking the paper in the sample, then taking a smartphone photo of it under a microscope and counting the beads – takes 10 to 15 minutes.
Katie Sosnowski, a doctoral student in the university’s biochemical engineering department, said it was ‘cool’ to work on an experiment that yielded ‘quick results that are also correct. ‘
‘I have a couple of friends who had COVID-19 which was very difficult, because their PCR results took six or seven days or they were getting a false negative from rapid antigen tests,’ she said.
‘But when they got the final PCR tests, they found out they had been sick, as they suspected.’
Researchers developed a 3D printed housing for the microscope and microfluidic paper chip connection. They have also developed a method called ‘variable threshold,’ which uses AI to account for differences in the type of phone used, the quality of the paper and other factors.
The team, led by biomedical engineering professor Jeong-Yeol Yoon, first reported on their work in a 2019 paper in the journal ACS Omega.
At the time, they were thinking of quick and easy ways to test for norovirus, the infectious virus that often breaks out on cruise ships, but they believe it could be modified to identify any viral infections.
For the coronavirus device the team added a 3D printed housing for the microscope connection and a microfluidic paper chip.
A method called ‘variable threshold’ has also been introduced which uses artificial intelligence to set the risk threshold and account for differences in the type of phone used, the quality of the device. paper and other items.
‘We’ve defined it so that other scientists can replicate what we did and create a norovirus detection engine,’ said Lane Breshears, a doctoral student studying under Yoon.
‘Our goal if you want to adapt for something else, as we have adapted for COVID-19, is to have everything you need to make your own device basic.’
Most methods of detecting COVID-19 or other pathogens are time consuming, expensive and require medical knowledge.
The total cost of the parts for the U of Arizona test is around $ 45 and it’s easy enough that a layperson could do it after watching a short instructional video.
The technology still has a long way to go before they hit the market, but researchers are hoping to get permission to test samples from students who are already testing for COVID-19 on campus through established methods other.
Eventually, they plan to rotate the machine around campus so that RA can test students in a dorm.
‘Modifying a method designed to detect the norovirus – another infectious pathogen – is a prime example of our researchers pivoting against the pandemic,’ said the president of the University of Arizona, Robert C. Robbins.
‘This promising technology has the potential to provide fast, accurate, affordable testing to the campus community frequently and easily. ‘
Yoon’s team also considered changing the technology so that they wouldn’t even need a microscope, just an app and a microfludic chip with a unique QR code.
It would leave a little more room for error but would require no training and could even be self-administered.
Since the advent of the novel coronavirus, scientists around the world have been working to develop faster, cheaper and more convenient testing methods.
Routine tests require a swab of the nose and back of the neck, usually in a clinic, which can be time consuming and unpleasant.
In May 2020, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh announced that they were working on an app that uses artificial intelligence to study the sounds coming from someone’s airway and to find -out whether they matched COVID-19 patient sounds.
Developers are working on smartphone apps that can test properly for COVID-19 while still being cheap, convenient and painless. If successful, it would quickly increase testing and allow people to avoid gathering at clinics or hospitals
Users had to use a transducer as a mouthpiece so that the phone’s microphone and speaker could record and emit acoustic signals from their airway.
The aim is to create a cheap and simple system that allows people to test for COVID-19 from their own home ‘and identify viral disease carriers quickly and efficiently,’ said lead researcher Wei Gao .
We hope that this work will also help identify negative cases that cause other diseases with similar symptoms, and thus, help eliminate non – hospital visits during this pandemic. ‘
A separate team from Switzerland united to develop a similar system using cough.
‘There seems to be a high proportion [of coronavirus patients] this type of dry cough is different from flu or allergies, ‘Tomas Teijeiro, lead researcher for the Coughvid project, told the Wall Street Journal.
Another app maker, PocDoc, says it can be paired with your phone’s camera to analyze a blood sample and provide quick results for the COVID-19 antibody test.
A user lifts his finger, puts a mouthful of blood on the test slide and then takes a picture. The software is designed to detect small color changes when COVID antibodies are present and provide results within five minutes.
‘COVID-19 has accelerated the need for innovative health technology of all kinds,’ said PocDoc CEO Steve Roest.