Joseph Puthussery
An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Washington University in the United States has developed a fast and inexpensive air quality monitor that can detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and all its variants in real time in hospitals, but also in other public buildings . Their research appears in the upcoming issue of Nature Communications.
In addition to detecting SARS-CoV-2, it is also potentially possible to detect other common aerogenic viruses such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Alarming
The aim of the technology is to detect airborne viruses more quickly, so that an early alarm can be issued in the event of a risk and the airflow and circulation in a room can be adjusted.
The project is a collaboration between a very diverse team of specialists, ranging from medical to energy, environmental and chemical engineers and from a professor of neurology to an associate professor of psychiatry.
The monitor roughly consists of a biosensor and an air sampling device. The biosensor is a transformation of a previously developed sensor that can detect beta-amyloid as a biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease. The antibody used in the previous version to recognize beta-amyloid was exchanged for the new purpose with a nanoparticle that can identify the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. According to the researchers, this nanoparticle is ‘small, easy to reproduce and modify, and cheap to produce’.
The renewed biosensor was then integrated into an air sampling device that works according to a technique that has been used for some time in, for example, the industry for monitoring air pollution.
Flow rate
The high speed of the new device is due to an extremely high flow rate and the resulting large volume of air to which the detector is exposed compared to commercial air sampling equipment, says author Rajan Chakrabarty, an associate professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering.
The device is currently still in the conceptual phase. However, it has already been successfully tested by comparing air samples from rooms of covid-19 positive patients with control air samples. The team continues to work on a way to bring the air quality monitor to the commercial market.
2023-07-10 09:00:00
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