In anticipation of the devastating worldwide effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, they developed rapid response programs to leverage the expertise of scientists and engineers to address the global health crisis. They offered emergency funding to researchers who proposed projects that contributed to the fight against the novel Coronavirus, and several professors at the Faculty of Science were able to benefit from these programs. Professor Maxim Berezovski is one such professor who received significant support from CIHR in their first round of COVID-19 funding, by proposing a new type of COVID-19 diagnostic test that detects both RNA and proteins of the SARS CoV-2 virus.
Professor Berezovski and his team are designing a diagnostic tool that would provide a positive or negative test result in under 10 minutes with an accuracy rate of 90 percent. In fact, they are developing an aptamer — a single-stranded DNA or RNA capable of attaching to a target molecule — that would bind to the coronavirus in various biological fluids such as blood, saliva, sputum, among others.
In the case of an infected individual, this cohesion between the aptamer and the viral particles would change the colour of a piece of paper, indicating a positive result. If successful, the proposed diagnostic test could be mass-produced at a cost of about $1 per test. Dr. Berezovski agrees that it would not replace standard testing methods, but would eliminate hospital lineups and allow the public to easily detect the respiratory infection when in doubt. Dr. Berezovski’s diagnostic test will also be more sensitive to asymptomatic or presymptomatic individuals, which could help significantly reduce the spread of COVID-19.
