Development of Rapid and Accessible Diagnostics of COVID-19 via Aptamer-Based Detection of SARS-COV-2 Virions

有效应对持续的COVID-19大流行和预防未来的COVID爆发需要快速和可访问地检测所有疑似活动性注射的个体中的病毒。目前诊断COVID-19的旗舰方法是基于检测小瓶RNA。它是敏感和具体的，但它很快被证明是不足以应对COVID-19疫情，因为它是缓慢的，需要高度专业化的设施。在这里，我们提出了通过检测病毒颗粒快速和方便的诊断。DNA适体可以选择性地结合病毒颗粒并标记它们以进行高灵敏度检测，这将有助于拟议的诊断。为了实施这一具有挑战性的方法，我们与多伦多的儿童医院和西奈山医院的领先COVID-19检测设施合作。这种伙伴关系具有在一年任期结束时成功完成项目所需的所有专业知识和设施。我们还将得到SCIEX的协助，SCIEX是一家位于多伦多的公司，生产我们研究中使用的分析仪器，也是我们的长期合作伙伴。我们的研究计划是具体和现实的，预计将导致具体的临床测试SARS-Cov-2检测方案。

Effectively dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and preventing future COVID outbreaks require rapid and accessible detection of the virus in all individuals suspected of having active injection. The current flagship method for diagnosing COVID-19 is based on detection of vial RNA. It is sensitive and specific, but it has quickly proved to be inadequate for COVID-19 epidemics as it is slow and requires highly-specialized facilities. Here we propose fast and accessible diagnosis via detection of viral particles. The proposed diagnostics will be facilitated by DNA aptamers which can selectively bind viral particles and label them for highly sensitive detection. To implement this challenging approach, we partner with the leading COVID-19 testing facilities at the Hospital for Sick Children and Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. This partnership has all required expertise and facilities to successfully complete the project by the end of the one-year term. We will also be assisted by SCIEX, a company in Toronto that produces analytical instrumentation used in our research and our long-term partner. Our research plan is concrete and realistic and is expected to lead to concrete clinically-tested SARS-Cov-2 detection schemes.