Rapid, portable, and scalable Covid-19 antibody testing

确定人体抗体水平对于监测针对COVID-19的免疫力和应对国家危机至关重要。抗体水平报告了以前的感染情况，并帮助决定人们是否可以返回工作岗位或与他人一起生活而不传播疾病。为了有效地进行国家筛查，抗体检测应该在几分钟内向个人提供准确的结果，并且是便携式的和高通量的。现有的基于免疫吸附测定的技术由于需要多个液体处理步骤、信号放大、准确性不足或用笨重的光学设备读出而不能提供这些好处。该项目将提供快速、便携、高通量和准确的抗体传感，该抗体传感是由伦敦大学学院化学（UCLC）的铅PI逐步改变传感器纳米孔，并将其集成到来自生物技术独角兽公司牛津纳米孔技术公司（ONT）的记忆棒大小的市场套件中。这些MinION分析试剂盒引发了便携式DNA测序的一场革命，目前用于解开Covid-19序列。PI与该公司有着牢固的工作关系，并拥有授权的测序孔技术，这是MinIONa成功的关键组成部分。在这个项目中，该技术将被改造成针对Covid-19抗体量身定制的更宽的纳米孔。新的传感器孔可以插入现有的MinION套件中，而无需重新设计设备，从而确保大规模生产。这些设备将由UCL Medicine（UCLM）的Co-PI和重症监护和监测专家Mervyn Singer教授进行临床测试和基准测试。所有项目合作伙伴以前都曾在联合赠款、出版物或技术许可合同中成功合作。

Determining antibody levels in humans is crucial for monitoring immunity against Covid-19 andtackling the national crisis. Antibody levels report about a previous infection and help decidewhether people can return to work or live with others without spreading the disease. To beeffective for national screening, antibody testing should deliver accurate results to individualsideally within minutes, and be portable as well as high-throughput. Existing techniques based onimmunosorbent assays do not deliver these benefits due to the need for multiple liquid handlingsteps, signal amplification, insufficient accuracy, or read-out with bulky optical equipment.This project will deliver fast, portable, high-throughput and accurate antibody sensing bypioneering step-changing sensor nanopores from the lead PI at University College LondonChemistry (UCLC), and by integrating them into memory-stick-sized on-the-market kits fromindustrial partner and biotech unicorn Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT). These MinIONanalysis kits have ushered in a revolution in portable DNA sequencing and are currently used forunravelling the Covid-19 sequence. The PI has a strong working relationship with the company andhas licensed sequencing pore technology which has been one key component to make the MinIONa success. In this project, the technology will be adapted with wider nanopores tailored for Covid-19 antibodies. The new sensor pores can be plugged into the existing MinION kits without theneed for redesigning the device, thereby ensuring production to scale. The devices will be clinicallytested and benchmarked by Co-PI and intensive care and monitoring specialist Prof. Mervyn Singerat UCL Medicine (UCLM). All project partners have previously successfully worked together in jointgrants, for publications, or via technology licensing contracts.