KAUST researchers develop a safe, fast and cheap testing method to detect viruses
A safe, fast and cheap testing method that uses magnetic nanoparticles to detect viruses in both clinical and wastewater samples has been developed by KAUST researchers. The centrifuge-free approach is compatible with magnetic bead-based automated systems that are already used to process hundreds of samples.
Our silica magnetic nanoparticle-based workflow can be assembled from scratch by any researcher. It rivals commercial viral-RNA extraction kits while lowering the risk of handling potentially infectious samples."
Gerardo Ramos-Mandujano, Lead Author
To diagnose COVID-19, clinicians extract SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA from different types of clinical samples, such as nasopharyngeal swabs, and detect the virus using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assays.