Rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 with a novel electronic bio-sensor – an alternative to cell culture for the determination of infectivity and an early tool for the identification of SARS-CoV-2 variants
Abstract
WIDER RESEARCH CONTEXT Infection numbers and death tolls of COVID-19 are still climbing globally, while countries are torn between implementing more lockdown measures and tentatively reopening some aspects of economic and public life.The common ground is that more and especially focused testing for SARS-CoV-2 is essential for preventing the uncontrolled spread of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from respiratory specimens is the current gold-standard for diagnosis and mutation detection, but does not discriminate between infectious virus and non-infectious traces of viral RNA. Viral growth in cell culture is a direct measure of viral infectivity of a specimen, but is not amenable for routine diagnosis owing to long turnaround times and the necessity of high biosafety containment laboratories. A rapid test that determines the SARS-CoV-2 infectivity status of patients would provide front-line healthcare workers with an urgently needed tool in clinical patient management and could help to curb the spread of COVID-19, while saving precious health system resources and avoiding unnecessarily long quarantine for patients. We aim to address this bottleneck of contemporary COVID-19 diagnosis with the development of an innovative point-of-care (POC) test that allows to rapidly determine the SARS-CoV-2 variant and infectivity status of a patient. SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES Production of soluble trimeric SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S), receptor binding domain (RBD) and soluble ACE-2 receptor as well as ACE-2 mutants with superior binding affinity for S. Production of recombinant baculoviruses and HIV-1 Gag virus-like particles pseudo-typed with the SARS-CoV-2 spike surface glycoprotein for being used as test analytes. Discrimination of wildtype SARS-CoV-2 and currently-threatening mutants (i.e. B1.1.7,B.1.351, P1, etc.) on basis of differential DNA-RNA (from S-, N-, E- regions) hybridization using clinical patient samples. Understanding bio-surface adsorption mechanisms. APPROACH Our consortium joins forces and combines the complementary expertise of three partners, covering 1) innovative electronic biosensor design and construction on basis of already implemented systems detecting bio-molecules in real-time (AIT), 2) the recombinant expression of complex SARS CoV-2 antigen analytes and receptors and their biochemical analysis (BOKU) and the 3) validation of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests and access to clinical patient samples (MUV). LEVEL OF INNOVATION The innovation of the project is the development of a novel and rapid electronic diagnostic POC test that allows to determine whether SARS-CoV-2 in a patient sample is still intact and infective. We achieve this by concomitant detection of virus genetic material and intact virions based on an innovative bio-sensor surface in an electronic device, referenced by an optical measurement tool. PRIMARY RESEARCHERS INVOLVED: Robert Strassl, Anna Nele Herdina, Miriam Klausberger, Patrik Aspermair
SARS-CoV-2 infectivity Point-of-care test electric biosensor new variant sentinel system
Publikationen
Project staff
Miriam Klausberger
Dipl.-Ing. Miriam Klausberger Ph.D.
miriam.klausberger@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-79858, 79928
BOKU Project Leader
01.09.2021 - 31.08.2024
Manuel Reithofer
Dipl.-Ing. Manuel Reithofer Ph.D.
manuel.reithofer@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-79859, 79877
Project Staff
01.11.2021 - 31.08.2024