Omicron and Delta, Tested Within 30 Minutes On-site

KIST Develops Biosensor Platform for COVID-19 Virus Detection Regardless of Variants
Detects Over 4 Times Faster Than Conventional PCR Method

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] A platform capable of diagnosing various COVID-19 virus variants such as Delta and Omicron within 30 minutes has been developed.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that the research team led by Dr. Lee Kwan-hee and Dr. Kim Ho-jun at the Center for Biomaterials Research developed a biosensor platform that can detect the COVID-19 virus on-site within 30 minutes with PCR test-level sensitivity, regardless of the variant.

Currently, gene-based PCR diagnosis requires at least several hours, and the test subjects must be quarantined until the results are available. Additionally, PCR tests can only diagnose if a specific gene sequence exists, so the diagnostic ability inevitably decreases for variants with different gene sequences. Even the widely used rapid test kits detect the virus by including antibodies that react to specific protein structures, which limits their ability to diagnose variant viruses.

To solve these problems, the research team focused on ACE2, the infection receptor of the coronavirus present in the human body. Since variant viruses also bind to ACE2 to invade the human body, they thought that universal virus detection would be possible using a high-sensitivity biosensor applying ACE2. To this end, they fabricated an on-site semiconductor biosensor platform based on electrical signals bound to the ACE2 receptor and synthesized viruses mimicking the physical properties of the coronavirus to optimize the biosensor platform. Using the developed biosensor platform, they successfully detected actual coronavirus and various synthesized variant viruses on-site in real-time with PCR test-level sensitivity (165 copies/mL, within 30 minutes).

Dr. Lee Kwan-hee said, "By combining the ACE2 receptor with a high-sensitivity semiconductor biosensor, we enabled the development of a diagnostic system that can detect variant viruses on-site," adding, "We plan to commercialize it soon after sensor standardization and regulation, expecting it to contribute to infection prevention systems and the establishment of social safety nets."

Dr. Kim Ho-jun explained, "The synthesized viruses developed in this study are non-infectious, so they can be handled in facilities with low BSL levels and have the advantage of being applicable to other virus diagnostic platform research," adding, "We will continue research on optimizing high-sensitivity precision detection platforms using synthesized viruses."

The results of this study were published in the latest issue of the international nanotechnology journal ‘Nano Letters’ (IF: 11.189, JCR top 9.062%).