Researchers Conduct Cheap COVID Tests for Mobile Phones

If you are also the person who waited in line hours to get COVID test–or met the same frustrations trying to buy them at your local drugstore—then you are lucky. A team of scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara says they have developed a new way to measure COVID that only affects lab devices and software on your phone, where possible. boasting the accuracy you can get with a PCR test.

And in contrast to those tests, this new system, described in a new paper in the JAMA Network Open-magazine will not add hundreds of dollars to your medical bill. Instead, the research team says that their entire system, called “smaRT-LAMP” can be set up for less than $ 100, including the cost of a smartphone that you would like to run the program.

That app, Bacticountuses a person’s hand-held camera to detect the presence of pathogens in human saliva. Here’s how it works: a person lifts their saliva from the testicles while sitting on a hot plate, and drops another method designed to amplify the RNA viruses that may be in the saliva – a method called “Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification,” or LAMP for short. After being fully certified by LAMP, the models were wrapped in cardboard with an LED light mounted on top.

Oneand smartphone front camera at the top of the box and rightly so be able to see the type of system to indicate whether or not their saliva samples show that they contain COVID-19. When pathogens are detected, the probes present in the solution bind, and the fluorescent and bright red light. The more germs are present, the more fluoresces of the spit mix mix, and the program registers faster. The number of human viruses is calculated according to the way the bright light first developed.

All in all, researchers say that every test is this setthe upgrade should be cheaper keeper $ 7 per pop. The only downside is that the app is only compatible with Samsung Galaxy S9 phones right now, due to its camera-specific appearance – but more phones. it may be possible in the future.

It is worth noting that this method — and the paper — is based on beauty small sample size: 50 patients. However, these preliminary results are promising; according to the research team, the test was not only similar to the PCR tests you would get in your regular doctor’s office, but they could be easily modified to detect new types of COVID or viruses, such as the common cold.

The lead researcher on the project, Dr. Michael Mann, told Gizmodo that although the tests were designed to be “relatively limited” – think rural hospitals, or places without proper testing equipment – could be easily adapted for testing in public homes. . And honestly, considering the tests sold in stores, is ongoing problems harassing Biden administrators’ plans to distribute free exams to people across the country, such as this may be what we want.