Sensitive and specific electrochemical detection of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV2) based on isothermal amplification

SARS-CoV2病毒(新冠肺炎)的流行和全球传播迫切需要有效的手段进行快速诊断，以及在各种环境(除临床实验室外)进行检测，如飞机、学校、潜在的动物携带者等。事实上，大多数似乎经历了当前大流行且目前死亡人数相对较低的国家和正在采取部分解除限制措施的国家，都属于正在进行病毒测试最多的国家之列。我们先前设计了一种比色法来检测特定的病毒DNA，这种方法可能被用于“现场”病毒检测，与基于电极的检测设备相结合，将提供简单、敏感和廉价的现场病毒检测。 SARS-CoV2(导致新冠肺炎的病原体)是一种核糖核酸病毒，与其他基因组由dna组成的病毒相比，它使用最常用的检测方法为其放大增加了一步。我们要实现的方法以类似的方式检测RNA和DNA。此外，目前的病毒检测黄金标准需要专门的实验室材料和人员，这也意味着样本运输物流和等待样本处理的排队。我们的目标是实现一种新的DNA扩增方法(称为滚环扩增)，它不需要专门的设备。通过将其与电极相结合，我们希望实现对病毒基因组的灵敏和快速检测，而不需要笨重的复杂设备。 即使我们都希望尽快拿到疫苗，但仍然迫切需要一种高效、快速和简单的测试来监测每一个重返工作或学校的人，甚至可能是每天或每周一次，以确保我们能够在发现任何新的羽化时迅速做出反应。这将允许限制措施仅针对新冠肺炎认可的工作场所，但不会同时影响所有工作场所和学校。

The epidemic of the SARS-CoV2 virus (COVID-19) and its global spread urgently requires efficient means for rapid diagnosis, as well as detection in various environments (aside from clinical laboratories), such as airplanes, schools, potential animal carriers, etc. Indeed, most of the countries that appear to go through the current pandemic with currently relatively low death tolls and that are managing partial deconfinement are among those that are doing the most virus tests. We have previously devised a colorimetric method to detect specific virus DNA which could potentially be used for "on site" virus detection and which, in combination with an electrode-based detection device, would provide simple, sensitive and cheap on-site detection of the virus. SARS-CoV2 (the pathogen causing COVID-19) is an RNA virus, which adds a step for its amplification with the most commonly used detection methods, compared to other viruses with a genome made of DNA. The method we want to implement detects RNA and DNA in a similar way. Moreover, the current gold standard for virus detection requires specialized laboratory material and personnel, which also means sample transportation logistics and waiting queues for samples to be processed. We aim at implementing a novel DNA amplification method (called Rolling Circle Amplification) which does not rely on specialized equipment. By combining this with electrodes we expect to achieve sensitive and rapid detection of the virus genome without the need for bulky complex devices. Even if we all hope for a vaccine to come as soon as possible, there is still a dire need for an efficient, rapid and simple test to monitor, perhaps even on a daily or weekly basis, everyone who is going back to work or school to ensure that we can quickly respond to any new eclosion as soon as it can be detected. This would allow to have confinement measures targeted only on the workplaces with acknowledged COVID-19, but without affecting all work places and schools simultaneously.