Detection technology used for Coronavirus at present makes it impossible to analyze samples quickly and on-site. Further, once the specimen has been collected, it takes more than 4 hours or more to confirm whether a patient has the virus or not. Due to this, a lot of problems ensue; the most significant one is that it is difficult to isolate the person infected at the first opportunity.
South Korean researchers might have got a solution to this problem by developing a plasmonic isothermal RPA (Recombinase Polymerase Amplification) array chip. This is a groundbreaking advancement in the Global Digital PCR and Real-time PCR Market. It is because this technology would be the world’s first plasmonic isothermal PCR technology with the ability to detect eight different types of pathogens. It can identify four viruses and four bacteria that result in acute respiratory infectious diseases in 30 minutes.
In this research, scientists combined isothermal PCR technology with 3D Au nanostructured substrate. The blend of these two technologies led to two things; firstly, it amplified fluorescence the signal of RPA products as well as DNA amplicons. Secondly, it successfully detected viral RNA and bacterial DNA under 30 minutes, which is considerable progress. Moreover, the team has also managed to construct a 3D plasmonic array chip to identify multiplex molecular. Such a chip would be able to analyze eight pathogens (4 viruses and four bacteria) simultaneously.
The novel medical device can detect pathogens in about half an hour, right on the site. This is done by developing core plasmonic nanomaterials, which facilitate ultra-sensitive pathogen diagnosis of 10 distinct respiratory viral pathogens. The team is optimistic that the new on-site molecular diagnostic device can be made available rapidly to help medical personnel take on the pandemic much more efficiently. Meanwhile, the researchers are also indulged in a partnership with domestic diagnostic device companies and Samsung Medical Center.
The noteworthy aspect of this research is that multiplex diagnosis technology is developed to fight against acute respiratory infections was also confirmed to be valid. This was judged in terms of clinical specimens collected through nasopharyngeal swabs. The team is further planning to perform several tests on these medical devices, including the reliability test. This is being done through large-scale clinical trials on COVID-19 infectees with the objective that approval can be received from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.