[Nature sub-issue] Fudan University Wei Dacheng's team and Academician Liu Yunqi have developed an ultra-high-sensitivity detection portable device that can produce results in 4 minutes!

This article was originally written by Translational Medicine.
Please indicate the source Author: Liz Zee Introduction: A research team at Fudan University says they have developed a new coronavirus detection method that is as accurate as PCR laboratory nucleic acid detection, but can Test results are given within 4 minutes
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When the new coronavirus infects the human body, it first reproduces in the respiratory system
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Therefore, the detection of viral nucleic acid collected from oropharyngeal or nasopharyngeal swabs of individuals by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can determine whether they are infected with the virus
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PCR testing is currently widely regarded as the most accurate and sensitive test for Covid-19, but it usually takes hours to get results
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qRT-PCR testing is not only slow, but also requires laboratory infrastructure, which may be limited in many countries, greatly reducing the number of nucleic acid tests per day
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Additionally, China is one of the largest producers of coronavirus testing kits in the world
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China exported $1.
6 billion worth of testing kits in December, up 144 percent from the previous month, customs data showed
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Recently, due to the explosive spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant, the number of infected cases has surged exponentially, and some countries have experienced severe backlogs in the face of the need for large-scale nucleic acid testing
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Therefore, scientists around the world have been working hard to develop new detection methods in an attempt to shorten the time required for this process
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While rapid tests are now being developed in many parts of the world, they are often inaccurate
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Recently, researchers at Fudan University in Shanghai said they may have found a solution
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On Monday (February 7), a research team led by Academician Liu Yunqi, Professor Wei Dacheng and Professor Zhu Zhaoqin from Fudan University published an article in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering entitled "Rapid and ultrasensitive electromechanical detection of ions, biomolecules and SARS.
" -CoV-2 RNA in unamplified samples"
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The team said their sensor, which uses microelectronics to analyze genetic material in a swab, can detect the virus's RNA in as little as 4 minutes, significantly less time than PCR laboratory tests
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https://doi.
org/10.
1038/s41551-021-00833-7 The team stated in their research paper, "We integrated an electromechanical biosensor for SARS-CoV-2 detection into a portable device and showed that, It detected the new coronavirus (RNA virus) in less than 4 minutes
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" The researchers said that their detection method is fast, maneuverable, highly sensitive and easy to carry
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Using the new testing equipment, they tested 33 samples from Shanghai infected with the coronavirus, and the 33 samples were also tested by PCR
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It turned out that the results from their testing equipment matched those of the PCR test "perfectly"
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In addition, they tested the device on 54 other samples, including people with fever, flu patients and healthy volunteers who were not infected with the coronavirus
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All clinical samples undergo a heating process to release nucleic acid, and then are directly tested without nucleic acid extraction or amplification (as shown in the figure below)
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The team said there were no false-positive cases in the test results from the testing device
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Workflow for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid detection by qRT-PCR and MolEMS g-FET Subsequently, the researchers also tested the sensitivity of the device
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They tested the viral nucleic acid extracted from the sample by serially diluting it in a viral transport medium and using the new detection device
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As it turns out, the device can directly detect unamplified SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid at concentrations as low as about 0.
02 copies/μl in nasopharyngeal swab samples
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In addition, the researchers found that the device was resistant to contamination by nonspecific binding in clinical samples
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Researchers at Fudan University say that once the test is successfully developed, their testing device could perform rapid tests in a variety of situations, including airports, clinics, emergency rooms, and even self-testing at home
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In addition to detecting SARS-CoV-2, the device enables ultra-precise diagnosis of other diseases in minutes, without the need for target purification, amplification or culture that typically takes hours or days
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Reference: https://medicalxpress.
com/news/2022-02-chinese-scientists-highly-accurate-virus.
html Note: This article aims to introduce the progress of medical research and cannot be used as a reference for treatment plans
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For health guidance, please go to a regular hospital for treatment
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