Covid-19-Aptamer development as new diagnostic platform to increase drastically the number of testing by capita

为了控制全球范围内的感染传播，迫切需要开发新型冠状病毒SARS-Cov-2（COVID-19）的快速可靠检测方法。为此，我们正在统一UQAM大学（Siaj Lab，加拿大传感应用二维材料研究主席）和Azure Biosystems（工业合作伙伴，为生命科学构建最先进的技术）的研究团队的努力，以开发新型高度特异性的适体作为识别受体，用于检测新出现的COVID-19病毒。特定的适体将被整合并用于通过结合流式细胞仪和高容量荧光扫描仪（Azure Biosystems合作伙伴）来开发大规模测试设置。因此，用于检测COVID-19浓度的适体传感器测定将是快速和直接的，并且将需要比传统测定更低的样品消耗。通过采用Azure Biosystems技术，我们可以在2分钟内完成36 x（96孔板）测量。因此，我们将为人类鼻咽拭子标本中的自动化和高通量COVID-19分析提供强大的潜在应用。由此产生的COVID-19传感器将在高通量便携式比色阅读平台上实现，主要用于学校、医生办公室、医院、边境和机场的快速检测。 检测过程包括通过结合适体传感器和光学成像仪进行病毒检测和识别。这些调查结果将使加拿大成为控制这一流行病的关键角色。Siaj实验室和工业合作伙伴将直接受益于获得的专业知识，并大大扩展了他们的COVID-19诊断知识，用于未来的应用。与现有技术相比，新的诊断平台将非常具体地针对COVID-19，并将大幅增加测试/Capita的数量。这种具有成本效益的产品将通过及时进行测试来节省大量精力，并且通过患者之间的直接接触或样品运输传播病毒的风险最小。

The development of fast and reliable tests for the novel coronavirus SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) is urgently needed to control the spread of the infection worldwide. To this end, we are unifying the efforts of research teams at UQAM University (Siaj Lab, Canada Research Chair in 2D materials for sensing applications) and Azure Biosystems (industrial partner, building state-of-the-art technologies for life science) to develop novel highly specific aptamers as recognition receptors for the detection of the emerging COVID-19 virus. The specific aptamer will be integrated and used to develop a large scale testing setup by combining a Flow cytometer and a high capacity Fluorescence Scanner (Azure Biosystems partner). Hence, the aptasensor assay for detecting the COVID-19 concentrations will be fast and straightforward and will require lower sample consumption than the traditional assay. By adapting Azure Biosystems technology, we can do 36 x (96 Well plates) measurement in 2 minutes. Thereby we will be providing a robust potential application for automated and high-throughput COVID-19 analysis in Human Nasopharyngeal Swab Specimens. The resulting COVID-19 sensors will be implemented on a highly throughput portable colorimetric reading platform for rapid detection mainly in schools, doctor office, hospitals, borders and airports. The testing process consists of both virus detection and identification by combining aptasonsors and optical imagers. Such findings will position Canada as a critical player in the control of this pandemic. The Siaj Lab and the industrial partner will benefit directly by obtaining the know-how and greatly expand their COVID-19's diagnostic knowledge for future applications. Compared to current technologies, the new diagnostic platform will be very specific to COVID-19 and will increase the number of testing/Capita drastically. This cost-efficient product will save lots of effort by performing the test in a timely fashion with a minimum risk of spreading viral either by direct contacts between patients or from the sample transportation.