Since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the United States (U.S.) on January 21st, 2020, it has already been ascertained to affect >900K active cases with >50K deaths. Currently, COVID-19 is being diagnosed primarily by three techniques, i.e. reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), gene sequencing and chest computed tomography (CT). However, limitations of sample collection and transportation, as well as kit performance with inadequate access to advanced instrumental techniques, often cannot report COVID-19 at its initial presentation leading to the spread of this infectious disease to a wider community. Moreover, researchers found at least three central variants, distinguishable by amino acid changes, among 160 different complete human SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences. This limits the universal applicability of the currently available commercial COVID-19 kits. In this proposal we present a novel approach for screening of active COVID-19 cases with an electrochemical quantitative biosensor. This unique approach for selective sensing of SARS-CoV-2 eliminates the possibility of misinterpretation arisen due to the genomic variants of this virus which is the most concerning limitation of the current COVID-19 sensing kits. We anticipate that our sensor can detect the specific target nucleic acid sequences without signal cross talk with a detection limit to be around 50 fg/ml with time of response to be around 2-3 mins.
This proposal intends to develop a novel approach for screening of active COVID-19 cases with a quantitative electrochemical POC biosensor that would be able to detect the SARS-CoV-2 gene sequence using specifically designed antisense oligonucleotides (ASO). The outcome will generate quantitative and spatially specific data that may transform the early COVID-19 diagnosis without increasing the complexity of clinical workflows. Further this unique approach for selective sensing of SARS-CoV-2 eliminates the possibility of misinterpretation arisen due to the genomic variants of SARS-CoV-2 which is the most concerning limitation of the current COVID-19 sensing kits.
