The new verification, known as STOPCovid, is still at the study level but, in principle, can be performed at a low enough value for other people to check themselves every day. In an exam published in the New England Journal of Medicine, studies showed that in a set of patient samples, their verification detected 93% of positive cases as decided through PCR controls for COVID-19.
“We want immediate checks to be part of the fabric of this scenario so that others can control themselves every day, slowing down the outbreak,” says Omar Abudayyeh, an MIT McGovern scholar on diagnosis.
Abudayyah is one of the lead authors of the study, along with Jonathan Gootenberg, an academic at McGovern, and Feng Zhang, a senior member of the Broad Institute, a researcher at MIT’s McGovern Institute and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and James and Patricia Poitras. ’63 Professor of Neuroscience at MIT. The first authors of the paper are Julia Joung and Alim Ladha, graduate academics in biological engineering from MIT’s Zhang Laboratory.
A simplified test
Zhang’s lab began operating with Abudayyeh and Gootenberg’s laboratory to paint on the diagnosis of COVID-19 shortly after the start of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. Their goal was to use a test, called STOPCovid, which undoubtedly came to light and did not require any specialized laboratory equipment. Such a test, they hoped, can only be used in long-term care facilities, such as medical offices, pharmacies, nursing homes and schools.
“We developED STOPCovid so that everything can be done in one step,” Joung says. “A bachelor step means that verification can potentially be done through non-outdoor experts in laboratory environments. “
In the new edition of STOPCovid reported today, researchers incorporated a procedure to focus viral genetic clothing on a patient pattern by adding magnetic pearls that attract RNA, eliminating the need for costly purification kits that take time and possibly would be rare. to peak demand. This concentration level has a higher sensitivity of the control, so it is now closer to that of the PCR.
“Once we put viral genomes in the records, we find that this can lead to very high levels of sensitivity,” he says.
In collaboration with collaborators Keith Jerome of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Alex Greninger of the University of Washington, the researchers verified STOPCovid in 402 patient samples (202 positive and 200 negative) and found that the re-verification detected 93% of the positive cases. as we decided through the popular cdc PCR check.
“Seeing STOPCovid running on genuine patient samples was rewarding,” says Ladha.
They also demonstrated, in collaboration with Ann Woolley and Deb Hung at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, that STOPCovid control works on samples taken with a less invasive anterior nasal swab. Researchers continue to expand control in the hope of offering it to end users to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic.