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| ITENE collaborates on streamlined Covid-19 test Spain’s ITENE has been working with local start-up company CONTROLNANO on a new biosensor-based device to detect Covid-19 both in ambient air and in biological fluids, offering a compact, portable design, low cost and “instant results”.  Over the next few months, ITENE reports, the expectation is that the project (called Covidsense) will generate a technically-viable prototype for validation in hospitals and other locations, despite uncertainties about the level of accuracy the system will achieve in its first phase. The development project combines expertise in electronics, nanomaterials and biosensors, says ITENE. Rapid results from the biosensor device will be based on the use of nanomaterials acting as support for chemical or biological receptors, which will interact with specific parts of the virus. The recognition and interaction process will allow a signal to be emitted to – and picked up by – external devices. The work is being carried out with the support of the Valencia Region’s Institute of Business Competitiveness (IVACE). Currently, the most common clinical tests for Covid-19 use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to obtain results. While reliable, this system requires a complex and costly protocol for processing each sample, ITENE points out. It also requires expert personnel and has to be sent away to specialist labs for analysis. Published: 05/28/20 |