Research Update
July 15, 2020
Do-It-Together SARS-CoV-2 Detective
A project to develop an open-source detection method for SARS-CoV-2, analogous to the GMO Detective.
Project Dates: May 2020 - August 2020
Over the summer of 2020, I worked as a research associate with the CRI Institute at INSERM to develop safe and affordable testing for COVID-19 using RT-LAMP RNA amplification. I set up a personal home lab with common appliances (e.g. immersion cooker) and tested different RT-LAMP protocols published in preprints to evaluate their efficiency.
The Corona Detective
The 'Do-It-Together SARS CoV-2 Detective' project, thanks to the support of JOGL and its international team of collaborators, has developed a strategy inspired by techniques used for the ‘GMO Detective’ method, in order to detect the virus causing Covid-19, Corona Detective. Done not only without complicated equipment but with a simple +/- readout, these #CoronaDetective reactions are very specific. Furthermore, controls to ensure sensitive detection, without false positives or negatives, are intrinsic to the surveillance solution. The final product, strips of tubes (or 96 well plates) with dry reagents, could be readily supplied anywhere, without cold-chain dependence; and monitoring tests could be run by ordinary people, without any background in medicine or biology, just some ability to follow simple instructions and common sense.
Notes
I would like to thank Guy Aidelberg for his guidance throughout this project across the globe from Paris, France.
I would like to thank Harvard Institute of Politics for providing me with a stipend to participate in the project as an Institute of Politics 2020 Director's Intern.
