Credit: Korea Institute of Science and Technology(KIST)
Researchers in South Korea have developed a technology that enables immediate detection of specific airborne viruses in the field. The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)
announced that the collaborative research team led by Dr. Joonseok Lee from Molecular Recognition Research Center, Professor Min-Gon Kim from the Department of Chemistry, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), and Professor Chan-Seon Song from the Department of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, developed a detection platform that can simultaneously sample and monitor airborne viruses in the field.
Testing the biological hazards such as various bacteria, fungi, and viruses present in the air generally requires collecting the sample air from the field and conducting a separate analysis on the sample in the laboratory. This analysis process may take a few hours to even several days. Although the existing techniques that support on-site analysis without having to transfer the sample back to the laboratory enabled monitoring the concentration of bacteria or fungi, they displayed limitations in distinguishing the specific microorganism existence or being used without further cleaning.