39 SPECIAL SECTION: SMART HEALTH
REVOLUTIONIZING COVID-19 DETECTION Novel testing method produced by KAUST researchers could revolutionize the way we test for the virus As of mid-May 2021, COVID-19 had infected over 160 million people and caused more than 3.3 million deaths worldwide. While vaccine programs in Western Europe, North America and elsewhere are rapidly bringing down infection numbers, countries like India and Brazil continue to set records for new daily cases. The world’s ability to combat the spread of the virus is still limited by the speed at which cases can be detected, monitored and treated. A great deal of work has already gone into improving and increasing testing capabilities. The two primary testing methods – reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests and lateral flow immunoassays (commonly known as rapid test devices) – have their respective drawbacks. RT-PCR tests require complex sample processing in labs that can take up to two days to complete, while rapid tests have been shown to have false-negative rates as high as 50%. Researchers at KAUST, working in collaboration with a consortium of Saudi and international institutions, believe they have developed a more effective testing platform. When KAUST launched its Rapid Research Response Team in the early days of the pandemic, Professor of Bioscience Stefan Arold and Assistant Professor of Bioengineering Sahika Inal saw an opportunity to join forces. They wanted to develop a testing platform that could detect infections rapidly at the point of care (POC), without sacrificing the accuracy of the results. Using their protein chemistry knowledge
and electronic device engineering skills, the researchers focused on SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins. Together with researchers from King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center Riyadh, KAUST Solar Center, Oxford University and other institutions, Professors Arold and Inal developed a bioelectronic sensor platform that can detect virus spike proteins at the single-molecule level. The device, which is simple and robust enough for widespread POC or bedside application, combines or-
KING FAISAL SPECIALIST HOSPITAL “We believe that this technology is very promising, with a wide range of applications in the health sector. It has huge potential in many medical fields, including in transplantation to detect graft rejections; in infectious diseases to identify specific pathogens; and in blood bank and transfusion medicine to detect new possible blood groups. It is great that we can collaborate with KAUST on this.” Dr. Ashraf Dada, Medical Director at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center
