Researchers at the University of California San Francisco Medical School and Mammoth Biosciences have developed a CRISPR-based COVID-19 test, according to NPR.
CRISPR-Cas12 is used to identify genetic signatures of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. After identifying the virus, CRISPR-Cas12 cuts in it to uncover a fluorescent molecule that shows whether COVID-19 is president.
This test can run multiple samples at once and deliver answers with 30 to 45 minutes. The researchers hope to submit their test to the FDA next week for approval.
"What we really want to develop is something like a handheld, pocket-sized device using disposable cartridges," Charles Chiu, MD, professor of laboratory medicine at UCSF and co-lead developer of the test, told NPR.
UCSF and Mammoth Biosciences published a paper on the CRISPR-based test in Nature Biotechnology.