A team of researchers from UAE's Khalifa University has developed a portable COVID-19 testing kit that is both portable and can deliver the results in 45 minutes only.
While PCR testing is always highly accurate, and the gold standard for detecting viruses, it can be complex to use. The researchers at KU used the Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification method, LAMP, to provide a rapid, sensitive, and specific detection of the COVID-19 virus.
It is faster than the conventional PCR method and uses primers that target two specific regions of the viral RNA. The majority of PCR methods rely on thermal cycling where the reactants are exposed to repeated cycles of heating and cooling to start the RNA replication process, state agency WAM reported.
While laboratory PCR tests require a programmable thermocycler, LAMP can be carried out with a simple heat block, making it much more amenable to portable testing.
Currently in the clinical validation stage, this testing kit can detect active infections in 45 minutes, meaning it can be used in rapid testing while being cost-effective at the same time.
When the coronavirus pandemic is over, the kits remain useful, as they can be used with any virus detecting primer. The LAMP method will still replicate the RNA to make it testable and then the sample can be tested with a reagent looking for the influenza virus, for example.
