CRISPR-Based Testing for COVID-19

Priorities have continued to shift when it comes to curbing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 – from national lockdowns to mass testing. Recently, rapid mass testing has been proposed as the key to fully reopening communities across the US – but this is easier said than done; rapidly identifying asymptomatic, presymptomatic, and symptomatic carriers still presents a challenge.

Researchers from Gladstone Institutes, the University of California San Francisco, and the University of California Berkeley recognized this need and developed a CRISPR-Cas13a assay that uses a smartphone camera to directly detect SARS-CoV-2 from nasal swab RNA (1). The test avoids the need for amplification, facilitating point-of-care use, and returns accurate results in under 30 minutes.