A Swiss research team announced on April 21 that they have developed a biosensor capable of sensitively and reliably detecting new coronaviruses in the air.
It can not only be used as an alternative method for clinical diagnosis of new coronavirus infection, but also for real-time monitoring of the presence of new coronavirus in the air of crowded places such as train stations and hospitals.
The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology issued a communiqué on April 21 that the new biosensor was developed by the agency in cooperation with the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and the University Hospital of Zurich. It is based on a glass substrate and is called " "Gold nanoisland" gold nanostructure.
The researchers "grafted" artificially synthesized DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) receptors that match the RNA (ribonucleic acid) sequences of the new coronavirus onto the aforementioned gold nanostructures to enable them to recognize the new coronavirus.
The detection process of this new type of sensor utilizes two different effects, "localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR)" and "plasma photothermal (PPT)", to increase the reliability of detection.
Experiments have shown that the sensor can accurately identify the two new coronaviruses and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronaviruses, which have relatively similar gene sequences, and obtain detection results within a few minutes.
Related papers have been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society Nano.
