The Uinviersity of Arizona originally developed the test for novovirus
It uses a saliva sample under a simple microscope that attaches to your phone
Antibodies with fluorescent beads are added and glow if they find viral particles
Users can then count the clumps of fluorescent beads to see if they re positive
The goal is to combine the speed of antigen tests and the accuracy of PCR tests
Researchers developing smartphone-based Covid-19 test
January 30, 2021
× Researchers at the University of Arizona are designing a Covid-19 testing method that relies on a smartphone microscope to analyse saliva samples and deliver results in about 10 minutes.
The research team, led by biomedical engineering professor Jeong-Yeol Yoon, aims to bring a system that has the speed of antigen tests and accuracy of RT-PCR tests.
For this, the researchers are adapting an inexpensive method that they originally created to detect norovirus - the microbe famous for spreading on cruise ships - using a smartphone microscope. They plan to use the method in conjunction with a saline swish-gargle test developed by Michael Worobey, head of the UArizona Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and associate director of the University of Arizona BIO5 Institute.
Smartphone Based COVID-19 Test Developed by Anjanee Sharma on January 30, 2021 at 4:20 PM
Researchers are working towards developing a COVID-19 testing method that analyses saliva samples using a smartphone microscope and delivers results in 10 minutes. This method is adopted from the original method that used a smartphone microscope to detect the norovirus.
Biomedical engineering professor Jeong-Yeol Yoon, who led the team, aims to combine the speed of existing nasal swab antigen tests with the high accuracy of nasal swab Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests.
The method developed will be used along with a saline swish-gargle test created by Michael Worobey.
The research team believes their method provides cheaper and simpler detection, Traditional methods for detection pathogens are often expensive, involve laboratory equipment or require scientific expertise. The smartphone-based test simply involves a smartphone, a microscope and a piece of microf
They plan to use the method in conjunction with a saline swish-gargle test developed by
The team s latest research using water samples – done in collaboration with
Kelly A. Reynolds, chair of the Department of Community, Environment and Policy in the UArizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health – is published today in Nature Protocols. We ve outlined it so that other scientists can basically repeat what we did and create a norovirus-detecting device, said
Lane Breshears, a biomedical engineering doctoral student in Yoon s lab. Our goal is that if you want to adapt it for something else, like we ve adapted it for COVID-19, that you have all the ingredients you need to basically make your own device.