A portable lab in a backpack can test for the virus that causes COVID-19 at a cost of only $3.50 per sample.
The kit for the test is partially made from recycled computer parts and costs only $51, which could help bring reliable testing to rural and under-resourced areas. The instructions for building the kit are published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.
“We want to make sure it’s both open-access science and also open-access hardware, so there are completely no claims on it and all the instructions of how to do it are there,” says Stoyan Smoukov, a professor of chemical engineering at Queen Mary Univ. of London.
The test is a type known as reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification, or RT-LAMP. Like the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests that have become a household name since the SARS-CoV-2 virus started circulating, RT-LAMP detects fragments of the virus’ genome, using chemical processes to amplify these gene sequences for easier detection. Research published in August 2021 indicates that RT-LAMP tests are similar to PCR in their ability to reliably detect the virus. And, RT-LAMP tests are already in use in many countries; for example, Heathrow airport in London uses this type of test for onsite “fly safe” tests for travelers. By comparison, the rapid antigen tests that can be done at...
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