Saudi develops all-in-one Covid-19 testing strategy
Researchers have developed a Covid-19 testing strategy that can streamline the process of identifying cases, tracking variants and detecting co-infecting viruses.
Currently, separate assays and complex workflows are involved in each of the diagnostic procedures, with analyses typically performed in highly specialised facilities.
The team from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia has now combined all three kinds of tests into a single procedure that should allow for point-of-care tracking of Covid-19 and the many emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2.
The new test takes advantage of a recent genetic method (called recombinase polymerase amplification) and a next-generation portable sequencer to quickly detect the presence of viral sequences and provide read-outs — in up to 96 patient samples at a time.
