DNA barcode may speed COVID-19 testing
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Professor Paul Hebert’s team at the University of Guelph that developed bar coding for species is adapting the technology to test for COVID-19.
The team’s approach promises to be much faster and cheaper than current tests, which cost about $40 to $100 each and take days to produce results.
Their approach involves identifying a single gene specific to COVID-19, then screening swabs to determine whether that gene is present.
Their approach can do batches at a time, amounting to thousands per day. That speeds up the testing process and reduces the cost to about $1 per sample.
Herbert told CBC that processing thousands of samples daily is key to monitoring the spread of the COVID-19 and could allow for more informed decision-making on the enforcement and relaxation of lockdowns.
“For example, the safe reopening of schools and workplaces will require upwards of 100,000 tests a week,” he said.
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