COVID-19 might be identified in 55 minutes or much less with the assistance of programmed magnetic nanobeads and a diagnostic software that plugs into an off-the-shelf cellphone, based on Rice College engineers.
Mechanical engineer Peter Lillehoj has developed a stamp-sized microfluidic chip that measures the focus of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein, a biomarker for COVID-19, in blood serum from a typical finger prick. The nanobeads bind to SARS-CoV-2 N protein within the chip and transport it to an electrochemical sensor that detects minute quantities of the biomarker.