Development of rapid, sensitive & cost effective technology for the diagnosis of SARS using rolling circle amplification

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This project will develop two molecular diagnostic methods to detect the SARS virus. One will be based on a commonly used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology for viruses and the other will be based on a newly RNA amplification method, rolling chain amplification (RCA). Using RCA will provide a sensitive, contamination-free and reliable test during early stages of SARS virus infection that is not currently available.It is important to study the viral evolution and mutations by monitoring changes occurring in the virus. These changes are critical in defining the origin of the virus, its movements, and predicting changing patterns in pathogenesis of particular viral strains. As these analyses involve a variety of primary strains of SARS from patients, the issue of viral variability in relation to diagnosis can be addressed well through the proposed study. Together, these data may prove to be useful in future vaccine development, as has been evident from a number of flu viruses. Viral load during the course of disease will be used to predict disease prognosis and also to identify super-spreaders as they may carry large amount of virus but have less severe clinical symptoms. This project will be a milestone in molecular diagnosis, not only for the SARS virus, but also to other viral diseases such as HIV.