Australian medical researchers have developed genetically "supercharged" cells that allow them to test the effect of SARS-CoV-2 faster than other means. The team, from the Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity in Society at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), unveiled the research on Wednesday. They said the cells would enable medical experts to quickly understand the dynamics of different variants of the virus and test their ability to evade vaccines. Research leader Associate Professor Stuart Turville said viruses in the genetically developed cells replicate four times faster than through any other technique. "This means we quickly understand a number of things about the virus from a single swab, including potency (the potential of the virus to transmit), how the virus reacts to different treatments or whether the virus is changing in a way we don't expect it to," Turville said.