The 10$ COVID-19 Kit:
A Not-So-Expensive Nano Ally
by: Rhea Lynne Billones
Last 2020, a nanotechnology research group ran experiments involving nanotechnology-based sensors for COVID-19 detection. Now, just March of this year, they successfully filed a patent application for rapid COVID-19 detection using a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) virus sensor based on human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 protein (ACE2) functionalized silver nanotriangle arrays.
As the team suggests, this new sensor is both highly sensitive and specific to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein RBD, along with human coronavirus NL63.
Yanjun Yang, a UGA College of Engineering doctoral student and the paper's lead author, initially wanted to address an issue regarding rapid antigen test's high false positive rates—almost reaching to 60%. "Our technology, which is also in a rapid kit but uses a spectrometer to detect, is much more accurate", Yang assured.
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What are the other advantages of this new swab-based method?
Since this test uses a UV-based spectrometer detection for spike proteins, it can differentiate among different COVID-19 variants, along with possible future ones. This means that the LSPR sensor paves a new pathway for SARS-CoV-2 (CoV2) rapid diagnostics. With the ability of detecting CoV2 at picomolar concentrations in saliva, the sensing performance of this test pars it with that of the "golden standard" RT-qPCR—implying that the test time could take less time with a maximum of 10 minutes.
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Are there any future plans for this patented research?
Yiping Zhao, a co-author of the paper and a distinguished research professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Department of Physics and Astronomy, said that a detector based on this patent—planned to be under 10$—is currently in works so that results can be linked via a smartphone app.
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Regardless of the highs and lows of COVID-19 cases around the world, the fact that the virus still persists should not be denied. Completely annihilating the virus does not only require vaccines. With its emerging new variants, rapid detection plays a key part in the fight against COVID-19—a concern that nanotechnology can potentially subdue.
REFERENCES:
[1] Du, Lanying, et al. “Recent Advances in Nanotechnology-Based COVID-19 Vaccines and Therapeutic Antibodies.” Nanoscale, vol. 14, no. 4, 2022, pp. 1054–1074, 10.1039/d1nr03831a. Accessed 24 May 2022.
[2] Yang, Yanjun, et al. “Silver Nanotriangle Array Based LSPR Sensor for Rapid Coronavirus Detection.” Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, vol. 359, May 2022, p. 131604, 10.1016/j.snb.2022.131604. Accessed 24 May 2022.
[3] Yayehrad, Ashagrachew Tewabe, et al. “Could Nanotechnology Help to End the Fight against COVID-19? Review of Current Findings, Challenges and Future Perspectives.” International Journal of Nanomedicine, vol. Volume 16, Aug. 2021, pp. 5713–5743, 10.2147/ijn.s327334. Accessed 6 Nov. 2021.
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IMAGES:
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[1] UGA. “Research Awards | Yiping Zhao.” UGA, 2016, research.uga.edu/research-awards/2016/03/22/zhao/. Accessed 24 May 2022.
[2] Zhou, Jianhua, et al. “Plasmonic Biosensing Based on Non-Noble-Metal Materials.” Chinese Chemical Letters, vol. 29, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 54–60, 10.1016/j.cclet.2017.09.003. Accessed 24 May 2022.