Rapid, Portable, Point-of-Care COVID-19 Test

Researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign  have developed a prototype of a rapid COVID-19 molecular test along with an easy-to-use, portable instrument for reading the results with a smartphone in 30 minutes. The development could enable point-of-care diagnosis without needing to send samples to a lab. The Illinois team uses a process called LAMP to analyze the viral transport media, which bypasses the RNA extraction and purification steps. The researchers incorporated the LAMP assay onto a small 3D-printed microfluidic cartridge.