A team of scientists has developed a new fast sensor that can tell if you have the Covid-19 virus or the flu within 10 seconds.
The device is made of a one atom thick nanomaterial capable of simultaneously detecting the presence of viruses that cause Covid-19 and influenza at much lower levels and much faster than lateral flow (the limit of rapid tests to detect emerging corona virus) and other traditional tests .
Scientists in the US made it using graphene, which is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. His paper makes him very sensitive to any electrical changes in his environment, giving him the ability to distinguish Covid-19 from the flu.
Deji Akinwande of the University of Texas at Austin said that the symptoms of both the flu and Covid-19 overlap a lot, making it difficult to tell them apart.
He explained: “When these two viruses spread together, as they did earlier this winter, it would be very useful to have a sensor that could tell if you have Covid-19 or the flu or none of the above, or both. both at the same time. in the same time. One”.
Scientists have extracted antibodies produced by the human body and attached them to graphene. When the team places a sample of an infected person on the device, the antibodies bind to target proteins, causing a change in electrical current.
The research team also used flu and Covid-19 proteins, which are delivered in a saliva-like fluid.
Their results showed that the sensor can detect the presence of proteins, even if they are present in very small amounts.
The team believes their device could be modified to test for other infections as well.
“The sensor can improve the ability to detect very small amounts of anything that needs to be detected, whether it be bacteria or viruses, in a gas or in the blood,” Akinvande explained.
The scientists presented their findings at the American Chemical Society’s spring meeting this week.
Source: Independent
