New Saliva-Based CRISPR Smartphone Assays May Fill Need for Mass and Rapid COVID-19 Testing

One of the few positive things to come out of this deadly global pandemic is how it has accelerated the pace of diagnostic innovation to hyperdrive levels. The latest example of this phenomenon is the rapid development of technology that enables individuals to use their smartphones to find out if they have COVID-19 via analysis of a saliva sample. The Diagnostic Challenge Should we shut down the schools? How much progress are we making toward general immunity? Should we open the workplace? Is it safe for me to leave the home and go to the grocery store? Mass rapid COVID-19 testing provides the critical data government regulators, scientists, employers and individuals need to make sound decisions about how to keep COVID-19 from spreading. Molecular real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR) testing represents the current gold standard for COVID-19 testing. But while it is capable of accurate detection, RT PCR test methods do not generate this kind of data. Because tests must be performed at an off-site laboratory using complex RNA extraction methods, individuals who get tested have to wait for days to find out if they are positive or negative. RT PCR tests are also dependent on supplies […]