Super quick COVID test uses new technology
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Loading... - Adam Harris
- 24 Jan 2023
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The ability of gold particles to reflect light in different colours is used in applications from stained glass to pregnancy tests. Now researchers are set to exploit the same properties in an ultra-fast sensor for the coronavirus.
Sticking swabs up our noses and down our throats to confirm or deny whether we are infected with the coronavirus – almost all of us have done it multiple times in the last couple of years.
The methods that have been used to detect and prevent the spread of the virus have been the same around the world, either:
1. The expensive, time-consuming but very accurate PCR method where the DNA of the virus is detected in our mucous membranes, or
2. The simpler and faster method that only indicates whether we have developed antibodies against the virus.
Ultra-fast detection
However, both methods have their weaknesses. The PCR method is expensive and time-consuming, while the antibody method does not tell us anything about whether we actually have the virus in the body. A simple and affordable way to detect the virus that provides a quick result would therefore be helpful.
Now researchers from NTNU, Oslomet and the University of Tabriz in East Azerbaijan have demonstrated a method for detecting coronavirus in blood samples using nanosensors.
“A lot of research focuses on finding methods to quickly isolate infected people, which can break the chain of infection. Nanosensors have received a lot of attention due to their unique properties for ultra-fast detection of particles such as viruses,” says Amir Maghoul. He is a researcher and the first author of the article “An Optical Modeling Framework for Coronavirus Detection Using Graphene-Based Nanosensor”. He was a post-doctoral fellow at NTNU when he started his work. Read More…
