Automated Microarray Rapid Test Detects SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Eight Minutes

Researchers have developed a versatile and reliable automated microarray rapid test for detecting SARS-CoV-2 antibodies that provides results in only eight minutes.

The low-cost automated rapid test developed by an interdisciplinary research team at the Technical University of Munich (Munich, Germany) is highly sensitive and highly specific in detecting the three most important antibodies. IgG antibodies against a protein fragment of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD), the spike protein (S1 fragment) and the nucleocapsid protein (N) are simultaneously analyzed.

The measurement is carried out on a foil-based sensor chip using a MCR microarray analysis platform. The device displays its measurement results within a few minutes after injecting a blood sample. Currently, the procedure still takes eight minutes, but building on current research, the waiting time will soon be reduced to just four minutes. New mutant proteins can be very easily integrated into the chip. The microarray technology, which allows to accommodate up to 100 measurement points on a single chip, is so sensitive that it can even determine the concentration of antibodies in a sample. In the long term, the team also plans to include other pathogens in the panel so the assay can be used, for example, to evaluate the effectiveness of an influenza vaccination.

"We have already developed reliable rapid tests for antibiotics in milk and for Legionella using this technology platform," said adjunct teaching professor Dr. Michael Seidel, head of the Bioanalytics and Microanalytical Systems group at TUM's Department of Analytical Chemistry and Water Chemistry. "The system has already proven itself in practical use. Our ‘CoVRapid’ rapid test may thus be deployed in clinics, medical offices and research laboratories in the very near future."

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Technical University of Munich