“We are trying to build a home-based test that is as reliable as a lab-based test,” said Piyush Jain, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Florida (UF) in the US.
“Our objective is to develop a simple test that eliminates the need for expensive equipment and provides results in just 10 to 20 minutes,” said Jain, who led the research published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.
The team is innovating on a system known as a one-pot reaction because the entire test happens in one small test tube. These tests, based on a technology known as RT-LAMP, can amplify small portions of a virus’s genome and produce a visible signal when it detects the virus.
Reading these tests can be as simple as looking for a blue colour or using a small device that detects a change in the test tube, the researchers said.