SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Researchers develop a fast, accurate, low-cost COVID-19 test:
A new low-cost diagnostic test for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) quickly delivers accurate results without the need for sophisticated equipment, according to a study published August 27 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Teng Xu of the Vision Medicals Center for Infectious Diseases, Tieying Hou of the Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Bing Gu of the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Jianwei Wang of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, and colleagues.
[...] In the new study, the researchers developed an alternative COVID-19 test by leveraging CRISPR-based technology, which has been widely used in recent years for gene editing. The assay, named CRISPR-COVID, enables high-throughput detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) -- the virus that causes COVID-19. CRISPR-COVID delivers comparable sensitivity and specificity as mNGS within as short as 40 minutes. When produced at a large scale, the material cost of a CRISPR-COVID test could be less than 70 cents, suggesting that CRISPR-COVID is a competitive alternative not only technologically but also financially.
Journal Reference:
Tieying Hou, Weiqi Zeng, Minling Yang, et al. Development and evaluation of a rapid CRISPR-based diagnostic for COVID-19, PLOS Pathogens (DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008705)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @07:07PM (6 children)
Figures. After all, since this is a "Chay-nah" virus, one would not be surprised if the best test were developed there.
Of course, by the time the US medical cabal gets this to market, it will cost $7K per test with payment guaranteed by taxpayer funding.
At least there might be hope for getting results in fewer than three weeks.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @07:22PM (2 children)
If you are so smart why don't you extrapolate string theory and particle physics in your next post?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @07:52PM (1 child)
> extrapolate string theory and particle physics
Only a stable genius could supply you that answer. If only we knew where to find one.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @09:29PM
Joe Biden can do it.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Joe Desertrat on Saturday August 29 2020, @10:08PM (1 child)
US researchers can't release their version until they figure out how to make it cause autism too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @10:42PM
Actually, it's the vaccine that must be engineered to cause autism.
Side-effects caused by testing would lead to less testing which would lead to a drop in discovery rates and the virus might just disappear.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2020, @03:14AM
Hah! I knew Dick Cheney was behind the fake pandemic.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @08:49PM (2 children)
Does the paper have enough detail to reproduce their results?
If so, then it could be made locally (where ever is local to you), screw these international supply lines that get all snarled in politics.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2020, @02:05AM
Man, there are some weird mods out there, my q above is currently
Troll=1, Insightful=1,
Don't think I've ever managed that before...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2020, @02:42PM
How does gel electrophoresis work?
With gel electrophoresis you use specific restriction enzymes to slice DNA and then use gel electrophoresis to create identifiable bands.
This probably works in a similar matter. You use CRISPR to make specific slices and then you use something like gel electrophoresis to look for identifiable bands or some other DNA identification tool to identify the specific DNA strands you are looking for.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Snotnose on Saturday August 29 2020, @09:39PM (4 children)
Right here [sciencemag.org]
I came. I saw. I forgot why I came.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @10:22PM
Not sure who modded you Offtopic. Thank you, that was an interesting read.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2020, @03:42AM (2 children)
Seconded, an interesting read.
Goes on to put some numbers to this error rate, when testing a population of 1000 people--gives a good feel for what is possible right now.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday August 30 2020, @04:08AM (1 child)
And then:
And that's where the availability of the test in larger quantity becomes important. If you have enough of them and you can perform 3 tests in the same time (to take 2 of the 3 as the answer), your false results frequency drops an order of magnitude.
That's why I like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 3, Insightful) by deimtee on Sunday August 30 2020, @07:28AM
If the errors are random that works, but it's more likely that whatever was up your nose causing a false positive on one test will be on all three. A better answer is to send positives for a different test.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Bot on Saturday August 29 2020, @10:30PM (2 children)
Any test that doesn't involve someone keeping your tissues for possible further genetic mapping is OK in my book. Spit, red you are safe, blue you are positive oppa matrix style, well kinda.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by choose another one on Saturday August 29 2020, @10:52PM (1 child)
Only way to avoid giving out samples of your genetic material is to go everywhere in a hazmat suit. Do that, and you won't need any sort of covid testing.
Or just stay home in isolation, and again you won't need any sort of covid testing.
Do remember to not give the man any excuse to come bother you in your home though... you know, like posting on internet sites about genetic mapping and stuff...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Bot on Monday August 31 2020, @11:24AM
I wasn't clear enough. If the test is so cheap can be distributed to households, your genetic material stays with you. Kind of a preggo test.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Saturday August 29 2020, @11:40PM (3 children)
- Fast
- Accurate
- Low-Cost
What happened to 'pick 2 out of 3'?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday August 30 2020, @12:34AM
Be grateful if you get 1!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday August 30 2020, @04:14AM
If you keep into account that the development of such tests (or vaccines) is anywhere but fast, I don't see a contradiction.
Once the method is known, producing them is not necessary constrained by the "pick 2".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 4, Interesting) by coolgopher on Sunday August 30 2020, @05:19AM
Also note that they only mention the material cost, not the total manufacturing cost.
In theory you could make anything starting from hydrogen and smashing it together sixteen ways till Sunday and you'd have a low material cost and a ginormous manufacturing cost...
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2020, @03:10AM (2 children)
COVID-19 == BULLSHIT
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2020, @03:43AM
BS detected!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2020, @12:02PM
That requires a smell test
(Score: 1) by HammeredGlass on Sunday August 30 2020, @11:45PM (1 child)
80% of the world will eventually get this. Why bother testing. I already have a 90% chance of survival according to this predictive model which is a test that is easy to get:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-020-0180-7 [nature.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31 2020, @06:04AM
Well I guess there's a ten percent chance we'll miss you.