New Method Supports the Possibility that Fluorescent Aptamer Nanoparticles could Yield Potentially the Fastest Handheld COVID-19 Diagnostic Test

Posted on by Dr. Johnathan Kiel

A rapid diagnostic method for SARS-CoV-2, which provides results in about 5 minutes, based on DNA oligonucleitides labeled with fluorescent dyes binding to viruses, which, in turn, undergo microscopic image analysis for identification has been reported https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.13.20212035v2.full.pdf. Aptamers are synthetic oligonucleotides selected for specifically binding to infectious agents or many other targets. They have been labeled with fluorescent dyes for tracing the binding and further developed into double-stranded DNA probes, where a complementary DNA strand has a fluorescent quencher that when displaced allows the fluorescence to be observed https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2628068/pdf/JBT-05-311.pdf . Therefore, the Oxford method could be enhanced by the rapid aptamer method.

Aptamer-Quantum dots quenched by complementary DNA carrying a fluorescent quencher and de-quenched by binding to Anthrax spores
Aptamer-directed Nanoparticles binding to Anthrax Spores and Vegetative Forms
Aptamer-coated Iron Nanoparticles on Microbeads Capturing a Live African Spotted Fever Rickettsia and Delivering it to Susceptible Cells in Culture and Establishing a Pure Culture; standard methods took two years to isolate this new rickettsia from infected tissue by blind passage in cell culture; this method took 24 hrs of culture.
Time course of rapid aptamer-quantum dot de -quenching diagnostic system
Unknown's avatar

Published by Dr. Johnathan Kiel

Leave a comment