RAPID: Development and Testing of Low-Cost Sensor Platforms for SARS-CoV-2 in Aerosols

Engineering - The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted human health on a global scale, with over a quarter million fatalities to date. There is growing evidence that COVID-19 is transmitted by the presence of SARS-COV2 virus in small respiratory droplets known as aerosols. To slow transmission of COVID-19, we need a better understanding of how much virus travels through the air in these droplets. Current methods to measure the virus are too time consuming to provide information necessary to fully combat transmission through air. Using nanotechnology, the proposed research will develop a faster way to measure viruses in small droplets. This will allow us to measure the virus in more locations to track them as they move through indoor air. The project team leverages research expertise in nanotechnology, aerosol science, and viral detection. Successful completion of this project will lead to production of a more rapid COVID-19 analysis tool that does not require RNA extraction and can be used for rapid and inexpensive testing. Results will be used to evaluate the scientific validity of the ?six-foot rule? recommended for social distancing.


There is a pressing need for rapid and sensitive environmental detection of the respiratory virus SARS-CoV2, the agent responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Most current approaches for SARS-CoV2 detection rely upon RT-qPCR for quantification of viral RNA. These techniques are both labor and cost intensive. The goal of this research is to develop a rapid SARS-CoV2 detection method to test the hypothesis that SARS-CoV2 is spread by aerosols. A second goal is to assess whether the recommended six-foot social distancing guideline is scientifically valid, as research supporting this recommendation is sparse. These goals will be achieved through the development of a low-cost sensor platform for the rapid detection of aerosolized SARS-CoV2 virus that uses surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to detect viruses in under an hour. The secondary objective of this study is to deploy the developed platform within the built environment to quantify SARS-CoV2 transport. The project team includes researchers with complimentary expertise in nanosensor development, bioaerosol characterization, and virus detection. In the development of the sensor platform we will examine virus recovery and detection using both plastic and fabric coupons as well as gold-nanocellulose and gold-adhesive tape SERS substrates. Transport of aerosolized SARS-CoV2 in the built environment will be assessed using Phi6 (a surrogate for SARS-Cov2) and heat-inactivated SARS-CoV2 nebulized to generate aerosols and droplets with sizes and velocities consistent with human breathing, talking, and coughing. The low-cost sensor platform will be deployed at various distances from an aerosolization source. Virus concentrations will be measured using the SERS assay and compared to results using RT-qPCR for validation. This effort will be the first to explicitly focus on development of low-cost SERS-based sensor platforms for detection of SARS-CoV2 within aerosols or droplets. Additional societal benefits will result from assessment of the validity of the ?six foot? social-distancing recommendation for SARS-CoV2.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.