Couple of weeks3 Apr 2020 17:10
How about a lateral flow assay?
Canadian firm Sona Nanotech has been attempting to push a completely different kind of rapid screening test for Covid-19 to market. It’s a quick-response lateral flow assay, and the firm says it expects its test to produce results in five to 15 minutes, cost less than $50 and be administrable by untrained individuals. Lateral flow assays have a wide array of applications and can test a variety of samples like urine, blood, saliva, sweat, serum, and other fluids.
All lateral flow tests are designed to identify the presence of a specific biological marker. Pregnancy tests, for example, look for the hormone hCG produced by pregnant people while HIV lateral flow assays detect the virus directly.
Sona owns a proprietary gold nanorod technology which can be used in numerous lateral flow applications. In lateral flow tests, particles like Sona’s nanorods are used to bind to biological materials and carry them along a test strip, producing a positive or negative result.
This isn’t a PCR test which requires a swab, a wait and specialist analysis to yield a result. Many antibody tests rely on lateral flow, but it isn’t one of those either, as Sona’s test will directly detect the Covid-19 virus.
The ease-of-use of Sona’s technology should make it suitable for in-home testing and monitoring, to help identify if patients need treatment in a clinical facility. It should also be able to verify if people are ready for release from quarantine and to screen individuals prior to entering closed public venues like aeroplanes. As of March, the company has said it expects the test to be ready for use within the next few weeks.
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