PHONE CAMERA PLEASE : COVID TEST

NEW YORK : Phone camera may very soon replace LABS in Covid test : Researchers seeking faster, more convenient options for ramping up coronavirus testing are looking at a novel approach using a gene-editing technology called. CRISPR and smartphone cameras in place of bulky laboratory equipment.

In a paper published on Friday in CELL, a tam that includes Jennifer Doudna - this years co-winner of the  Nobel Prize in Chemistry - describes a CRISPR - based Covid test in which the swab sample is mixed with enzyme called Cas13 that can recognise the genetic material of the new coronavirus, plus an extra molecule that becomes fluorescent when cut.

The mixture is then placed in a device that attaches to smart phones. If the mixture contains genetic materials from the virus, the enzyme finds it and slices it - without time-consuming virus-purification steps other tests require. [Reuters]