New Delhi:
Researchers at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) have developed a saliva-based test kit to detect COVID-19 that can display results within an hour, a university statement said on Monday.
The team of scientists at JMI’s Multidisciplinary Center for Research and Advanced Studies (MCARS) along with experts from other institutes have developed a non-RNA extraction saliva-based detection technology for COVID-19, a- he declared.
A person can put their saliva sample in the kit and within an hour it will display the results. The researchers also plan to link it to a mobile app so that if the person isn’t able to infer the results on the kit, the app will alert them with the results, the researchers said.
The technology is called MI-SEHAT (Mobile Integrated Sensitive Estimation and High-specificity Application for Testing) and can be used as a point of service (POC) device for COVID-19 detection in the field with a provision for testing home, the statement said.
Dr Mohan C Joshi, an expert who is part of the team, claimed that the smartphone-compatible POC prototype was developed and validated using synthetic SARS-CoV-2 RNA, which displays the results in one hour without the intervention of a technical expert.
He said that in such a difficult time when rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 remains the effective measure to contain and manage the viral spread, cost-effective rapid tests for SARS-CoV-2 RNA remain the gold standard.
“The stand-alone or integrated PCR-based detection kit remains confined to the sophisticated setup of the instrumental diagnostic laboratory and takes at least two to three hours to deliver the result with the need for a prone RNA extraction step. errors, ”he said.
Doctoral students, MD Iqbal Azmi and Md Imam Faizan at MCARS, JMI compared all the lab experiments that helped the team develop the prototype.
JMI Vice Chancellor Professor Najma Akhtar said that being user-friendly technology, MI-SEHAT will encourage home testing and thereby limit the interaction and movement of COVID-19 positive patients outside of the hospital. home.
“Additionally, it will reduce the exposure of our healthcare professionals to COVID-19 positive patients who are directly or indirectly engaged in testing,” she said.
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