Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean Institute of Basic Sciences (IBS) Nanomedical Research Group said on the 3rd that the research team headed by Qian Zhenyu, the head of the team, recently developed nanoPCR equipment and technology that uses magnetic nanoparticles to quickly detect the novel coronavirus on the spot, and the virus detection time only takes 17 minutes.
It is reported that the RT-PCR nucleic acid test mainly used in South Korea needs to be sent to a specific hospital or research institute. The test time is at least four hours, and the cost is relatively high. To address this problem, the research team developed “magnetic plasma nanoparticles” (MPN) that combines plasma metal substances with magnetic nanoparticles.
After putting MPN solution and body samples into nano-PCR equipment, the presence of COVID-19 can be detected by using the principle of magnetic field by irradiating light, with an accuracy of 99%. The equipment also has the characteristics of small appearance, light and portable, but it is reported that further research is needed to achieve commercialization.
Qian Zhenyu said that in addition to COVID-19, the device can also be widely used in the detection and diagnosis of various viral infectious diseases. The above results were published in the international academic journal Nature Biomedical Engineering on the same day.
