AMMAN — A Jordanian student studying in the
United States has developed a unique new
COVID-19 test that provides test results in only
five minutes, helping recipients skip hours or even days of waiting.
اضافة اعلان
Maha Muhammad Al-Afeef, who studies at the University of
Illinois, won the University’s Innovation Award after developing an inexpensive
and highly accurate electrochemical biosensor that can easily test for
COVID-19.
“When the coronavirus was classified as a global epidemic, I
wanted to take advantage of all the experience and knowledge I have to invent a
device that helps eradicate this pandemic,” said Afeef. “After several months
of continuous and hard work, we successfully designed a device that diagnoses
COVID-19 in five minutes only.”
Afeef’s test relies on a paper-based electrochemical sensor
that detects the presence of COVID-19 in less than five minutes. The sensor
requires samples from a nasal or saliva swab, similar to the standard tests
being administered across the country, and uses graphene, a two-dimensional
carbon-based substance used in electronics and electric batteries.
Graphene is highly sensitive to changes in electrical
signals, making it ideal for testing for even small amounts of the virus.
Additionally, gold nanoparticles capped with single-stranded nucleic acids act
as a hypersensitive probe detecting the presence of COVID-19 RNA. Due to the
improved sensitivity, Afeef’s test goes a step further than standard tests by
differentiating viral RNA loads, which are a clue to the progress or extent of
infection.
“It is a device that detects the presence of the genetic material
of the virus in the patient’s sample,” Afeef told Jordan News. The
device can be linked to a smart device so the patient can read the result and
find out whether it is a negative or positive.”
Afeef and her team envision the test being linked to LED
screens or a smartphone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, according to the University of
Illinois. Its low cost and portability mean that it could be used as a home
test or distributed to doctors’ offices.
“The technology was licensed for commercialization,” confirmed
Afeef, who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Jordan
University of Science and Technology. “We are applying nowadays for the
approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to market the device in the
United States of America. The device will exist on the markets soon.”
For the meantime, the majority of COVID-19 tests
administered are polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which detect genetic
material from a specific organism. The PCR test is the “gold standard” test for
diagnosing COVID-19 because it is the most accurate and reliable test.
Individuals should receive the results of their tests as
soon as 24 hours after sample collection, but sometime the results can take a
few days depending on how long it takes the sample to reach the laboratory, how
many specialized personnel are available to process the tests, and how many
other samples are in the queue to be tested.
Because the PCR test is able to detect very small amounts of
virus material, a drawback of this test is that it continues to detect
fragments of the virus even after the patient has recovered from COVID-19 and
is no longer contagious.
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