|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Taking a COVID-19 test could be easy as spit if a test by Stanford Medicine pans out. Researchers are seeking volunteers for a study of an at-home, COVID-19 saliva test that could give fast, accurate results.
The test, which could cost as little as $5, involves boiling some water, reading the instructions from a kit and spitting into a funnel, according to an announcement by Stanford Medicine.
The test takes no more than 10 minutes to self-administer and the accuracy rate is similar to clinical nasal-swab tests performed in hospitals. It can detect the presence or absence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in saliva within 30 minutes. The test was invented by Manu Prakash, associate professor of bioengineering, and his group with support from the Stanford Medicine Catalyst Program.
After providing a sample, the color within a provided tube appears yellow if there is a coronavirus infection or pink if there’s not. Prakash estimated the kit retail cost, if the test is approved, would be as low as $5 and perhaps closer to $1. The test is also designed to easily manufacture at large scales, Prakash said in the announcement.
“The world needs rapid-screening kits now, and at a very large scale. If the study is successful, our goal will be to manufacture tens of millions of them per day. We’re already building industrial partnerships to generate that capacity,” he said.
The research team is assembling nearly 10,000 test kits for the study. The pilot study seeks to determine whether the test can achieve clinical-grade detection results. It began on Dec. 2 and should be completed by month’s end.
“Our hope is to prove this works in the real world and then scale to hundreds of millions of tests to help open schools, universities and businesses as we wait for the vaccines now in development to come online,” said Euan Ashley, associate dean in the School of Medicine who co-directs the Catalyst Program.
Information about participating in the study can be found at snapdx.org.
Find comprehensive coverage on the Midpeninsula’s response to the new coronavirus by Palo Alto Online, the Mountain View Voice and the Almanac here.