Development of a simple and low-cost device for the rapid diagnosis of the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)

With the recent pandemic caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the early diagnosis and isolation of infected patients have become essential measures to reduce and delay viral spread. However, the insufficient number of diagnostic tests for the infection has greatly limited the ability of clinicians and public health specialists to accurately determine and track the prevalence, severity, mortality and transmissibility of this disease. In this project, it is proposed the development of a disposable, simple and low-cost microfluidic device for the detection of three RNA sequences of the SAR1-CoV-2 virus N1 gene, aiming at the quick and accurate diagnosis of COVID-19. The performance of our Research Group has been based on the development of devices like this for the detection of protein biomarkers aiming at the diagnosis of diseases with the partnership of Research Groups in the health area, which has generated important results with a strong impact on innovation. The construction of the proposed microfluidic platform will make use of easily accessible materials and simple equipment and will allow the analysis of different samples simultaneously. The device will consist of several microfluidic channels, each containing four independent sensor regions, which will allow detection by electrochemiluminescence of the three RNAs of the virus in addition to a human RNA, which will be used as the device's internal control. The applicability of the devices to be built will be evaluated initially in standard samples containing synthetic sequences (positive and negative) and, in a second moment, in samples from patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 provided by the UFSCar University Hospital. The project also aims at training human resources at different levels and publishing articles in national and international indexed journals as well as filing patents. Therefore, the development of a device for rapid, selective and low-cost detection of viral RNA will allow the early diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, while meeting an international public health need.