Calgary researchers develop 30 minute COVID-19 test
Posted May 8, 2020 11:55 am.
Last Updated May 8, 2020 10:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Scientists at the University of Calgary have developed a new method to test for COVID-19.
Researchers at the Cumming School of Medicine have come up with a way to test for the virus that can provide results in as little as 30 minutes.
Dr. Dylan Pillai with the team said it also doesn’t require high tech equipment and the chemicals that have been in limited supply worldwide.
“You can read the results with a naked eye. The chemicals themselves can be freeze-dried, all of those things make this technology more portable than the traditional detection systems.”
The test uses a technique called loop-mediated amplification (LAMP) which detects the virus from a nose or throat swab or from saliva.
This process has been validated and the research team said the test shows greater than 97 per cent accuracy compared to other tests.
“Any clinical laboratory can adopt this method into its workflow now,” said Pillai. “We know for some places in the world, testing large numbers of people is difficult – this simplifies the process and makes it accessible.”
The team is sharing the method with researchers around the world working toward large-scale testing but said more work is needed to determine when the test could be put into action.
“We are in the early stages of unlocking the potential of this method,” said Dr. Byron Berenger with Alberta Precision Laboratories. “As we’ve seen in Alberta, detecting and tracking positive cases of COVID-19 has proven critical in containing the spread of the virus.”
The team is still working to acquire small lab items to further research and are hoping to create a handheld cartridge test which could be used anywhere. It’s hopeful they will have a model available by the end of the year.
