Low-cost biosensor for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 at the point of care

Author(s)

Torres, Marcelo D. T. ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]} ; de Araujo, William R. ^[6] ; de Lima, Lucas F. ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]} ; Ferreira, Andre L. ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]} ; de la Fuente-Nunez, Cesar ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Penn, Perelman Sch Med, Inst Translat Med & Therapeut, Dept Psychiat, Inst Biomed Informat, Machine Biol, Philadelphia, PA 19104 - USA

^[2] Univ Penn, Perelman Sch Med, Inst Translat Med & Therapeut, Machine Biol Grp, Dept Microbiol, Inst Biomed Informat, Philadelphia, PA 19104 - USA

^[3] Univ Penn, Sch Engn & Appl Sci, Dept Bioengn, Philadelphia, PA 19104 - USA

^[4] Univ Penn, Sch Engn & Appl Sci, Dept Chem & Biomol Engn, Philadelphia, PA 19104 - USA

^[5] Univ Penn, Penn Inst Computat Sci, Philadelphia, PA 19104 - USA

^[6] State Univ Campinas UNICAMP, Portable Chem Sensors Lab, Dept Analyt Chem, Inst Chem, BR-13083970 Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: MATTER; v. 4, n. 7, p. 2403-2416, JUL 7 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has killed over 3 million people worldwide. Despite the urgency of the current pandemic, most available diagnostic methods for COVID-19 use RT-PCR to detect nucleic acid sequences specific to SARS-CoV-2. These tests are limited by their requirement of a large laboratory space, high reagent costs, multistep sample preparation, and the potential for cross-contamination. Moreover, results usually take hours to days to become available. Therefore, fast, reliable, inexpensive, and scalable point-of-care diagnostics are urgently needed. Here, we describe RAPID 1.0, a simple, handheld, and highly sensitive miniaturized biosensor modified with human receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme-2. RAPID 1.0 can detect SARS-CoV-2 using 10 mL of sample within 4 min through its increased resistance to charge transfer of a redox probe measured by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The sensitivity and specificity of RAPID for nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swab and saliva samples are 85.3% and 100% and 100% and 86.5%, respectively. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 18/08782-1 - Miniaturized and integrated chemical sensors: new fabrication platforms for biological, clinical and environmental applications
• Grantee: Mauro Bertotti
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants