A new viral screening test can diagnose COVID-19 in a matter of minutes with a portable diagnostic technology the size of your hand. This novel diagnostic tool can also sequence the virus, providing valuable information on the spread of COVID-19 mutations and variants. The test, named NIRVANA, was reported in the journal Med.
"This is a virus detection and surveillance method that doesn't require an expensive infrastructure like other approaches," says Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, co-author and a professor in Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory. "We can accomplish with one portable test the same thing that others are using two or three different tests, with different machines, to do."
The previous gold standard testing technology to determine COVID-19 is a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to detect genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Unlike PCR, which cycles through lower and higher temperatures to separate DNA strands and replicate them, RPA uses proteins to obtain results in 20 minutes.
Image credit: Mo Li/KAUST