Caltech researchers are designing a new, low-cost sensor to detect COVID infection at home by means of small volumes of saliva or blood. The inexpensive test will take less than 10 minutes to perform and removes the need of a medical professional to administer it.
Researcher Wei Gao, assistant professor in the Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering, and his team have designed the sensors using graphene, a sheet-like form of carbon. A plastic sheet etched with a laser generates a 3D graphene structure with tiny pores that create a large amount of surface area on the sensor. This increases the sensitivity of the sensor and enables it to detect with a high degree of accuracy and precision. In this sensor, the graphene structures are coupled with antibodies.
"This is the only telemedicine platform I've seen that can give information about the infection in three types of data with a single sensor," Gao says. "In as little as a few minutes, we can simultaneously check these levels, so we get a full picture about the infection, including early infection, immunity, and severity."
Gao's ultimate aim is home use for the sensor and commented, “In the following year, we plan to mail them to high-risk individuals for at-home testing. And in the future, this platform could be modified for other types of infectious disease testing at home."
Image Credit: Caltech