A CRISPR-Based Test Can Detect Coronavirus in 40 Minutes

The test we currently rely on can take over six hours

A new, inexpensive test can diagnose Covid-19 in 40 minutes using minimal lab equipment. The test isn’t available to the masses yet, but it could be soon.

Developed by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco and Mammoth Biosciences, the test uses the gene-editing tool CRISPR to detect the new coronavirus in cells taken from a nasal swab.

CRISPR is best known for its ability to seek out and cut genetic material. Using that search function, the researchers programmed CRISPR to search for specific genetic sequences found only in SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. If CRISPR finds those viral sequences, it gives off a signal that shows up as dark lines on a testing strip, similar to a pregnancy test.

The researchers tested the system on 36 samples from patients with Covid-19 infections and 42 samples from people with other respiratory infections. The test was able to correctly identify 100% of the negative samples from people who didn’t have the disease. And among samples taken from patients with Covid-19, it was able to correctly identify people with the disease 95% of the time. The results were published in the journal Nature Biotechnology on April 16.

Right now, diagnosing coronavirus relies on a lab technique called polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, which amplifies a tiny bit of genetic material…