Co-first authors Ioanna Smyrlaki (right) and Martin Ekman (left) and Björn Reinius, principal investigator of the study. Photo: Stefan Zimmerman
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a method for fast, cheap, yet accurate testing for COVID-19 infection.
The method simplifies and frees the testing from expensive reaction steps, enabling upscaling of the diagnostics. This makes the method particularly attractive for places and situations with limited resources, for repeated testing and for moving resources from expensive diagnostics to other parts of the care chain. The study is published in Nature Communications.
“We started working on the issue of developing a readily available testing method as soon as we saw the developments in Asia and southern Europe, and before the situation reached crisis point in Sweden,” says principal investigator Björn Reinius, research leader at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics at Karolinska Institutet. “Our method was effectively finished already by the end of April, and we then made all the data freely available online.”
The spread of the new coronavirus at the end of 2019 in China’s Wuhan region quickly escalated into a global pandemic. The relatively high transmission rate and the large number of asymptomatic infections led to a huge, world-wide need for fast, affordable and effective diagnostic tests that could be performed in clinical as well as non-clinical settings.
Challenges for COVID-19 tests
Established diagnostic tests for COVID-19 are based on the detection of viral RNA in patient samples, such as nasal and throat swabs, from which RNA molecules must then be extracted and purified. RNA purification constitutes a major bottleneck for the testing process, requiring a great deal of equipment and logistics as well as expensive chemical compounds.
Making the current methods simpler without markedly compromising their accuracy means that more and faster testing can be carried out, which would help to reduce the rate of transmission and facilitate earlier-stage care.
Accurate but faster and cheaper
The cross-departmental research group at Karolinska Institutet has now developed methods that completely circumvent the RNA-extraction procedure, so that once the patient sample has been inactivated by means of heating, rendering the virus particles no longer infectious, it can pass straight to the diagnostic reaction that detects the presence of the virus.
According to the researchers, the most important keys to the method’s success are both the above virus inactivation procedure and a new formulation of the solution used to collect and transport the sample material taken from the patients.
“By replacing the collection buffer with simple and inexpensive buffer formulations, we can enable viral detection with high sensitivity directly from the original clinical sample, without any intermediate steps,” says Dr Reinius.
Towards asymptomatic infection in Sweden
Institutions and research groups around the world have shown great interest in the method since a first version of the scientific article was published on the preprint server medRxiv. The article was read more than 15,000 times even before it was peer-reviewed by other researchers in the field and officially published in Nature Communications.
“Thanks to the low cost and the simplicity of the method, it becomes a particularly attractive option at sites and in situations with limited resources but a pressing need to test for COVID-19,” he says and adds: “I would certainly like to see that this test used in Sweden too, for example for cheap periodic testing of asymptomatic people to eliminate the spread of infection.”
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
COVID-19 test
- Giro d’Italia: Jonathan Caicedo out after positive test for COVID-19
Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost) has been forced out of the Giro d’Italia after testing positive for COVID-19. The news was confirmed on social media by his team Tuesday ...
- Rapid Covid-19 Antigen Test Kit Market Key Drivers, Restraints, And Opportunities
According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, “Rapid Covid-19 Antigen Test Kit Market: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry ...
- Flunking the COVID-19 test
Americans are eying the coronavirus pandemic in the rearview mirror and hoping it will soon recede from sight.
- GOP’s Bob Stefanowski will isolate after positive COVID-19 test
Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob Stefanowski tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday and will follow isolation protocols set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Stefanowski, who ...
- US Rep. David Price recovering after COVID-19 positive test
The longest-serving member of North Carolina’s current congressional delegation is recovering following a coronavirus diagnosis over the weekend. U.S. Rep. David Price of Chapel Hill wrote in a tweet ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
COVID-19 test
Go deeper with Bing News on:
COVID-19 testing
- Giro d’Italia: Jonathan Caicedo out after positive test for COVID-19
Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost) has been forced out of the Giro d’Italia after testing positive for COVID-19. The news was confirmed on social media by his team Tuesday ...
- Taiwan kept COVID-19 cases below 15,000 for all 2021. Now it has 80,000 a day, testing its 'new model'
TAIPEI: Billed a COVID-19 success story as its economy boomed through the pandemic, Taiwan is now battling a record wave of infections as it eases restrictions that had kept outbreaks at bay to start ...
- COVID-19 Diagnostics Market Size by Type, Application, Top Industries, Market Share, Covid-19 Impact Analysis and Size ,Forecast 2022-2031
The global COVID-19 diagnostics market by revenue is expected to register a negative CAGR of (9%) during the period 2022–2031. The RT-PCR testing segment constituted over 75% of the global COVID ...
- Rapid Covid-19 Antigen Test Kit Market Key Drivers, Restraints, And Opportunities
According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, “Rapid Covid-19 Antigen Test Kit Market: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry ...
- Jake Tapper Reportedly Taped Show At CNN Studio After Testing Positive For COVID-19
Some CNN staffers were incensed by the anchor's decision to stay at work while infected, The Daily Beast reported.