CORONA - Parmenides - RapidCorona - TP 2

The Corona pandemic shows how helpful broad-based screening processes could be. A rapid indicator "pre-sorts" huge populations, and medical diagnosis is then made in enriched populations. Therefore, a rapid-informing, low-cost, ubiquitous clue to detect corona viruses in the form of a chewing gum should be developed. These are to be equipped with a "read-out" that everyone understands - a bitter taste in case of infection. The working hypothesis is that infection with corona viruses causes certain enzymes in saliva to appear or be upregulated, and that this makes it possible to distinguish sick people from healthy people even in asymptomatic stages. This enzyme in saliva, which indicates the corona virus, is the target enzyme. The sensors to be developed - these are processed in the chewing gum - are cut only by the target enzyme (i.e. only in Corona sufferers) and only after this cut do they produce a bitter taste. Then the chain closes (i) Corona viruses in the throat → (ii) target enzyme increased in saliva → (iii) chewing gum → (iv) taste → (v) person is warned.