Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/R86eH8jRlqQ

 

MIT bioengineers and oncologists have developed a rapid card-based test to assess a person’s levels of neutralizing antibodies that can fend off a CoVid infection.  The system employs the typical lateral flow card used in current CoVid home antigen test kits.  

 

A drop of blood from a finger prick enters a capillary tube.  The tube is placed in a prefilled chamber with a gold-labeled CoVid receptor-binding-domain protein.  After a 10 minute incubation permitting anti-CoVid antibodies in blood to react with the RBD protein, the mix is applied to the test card that has two test indicator lines.  One line darkens with neutralized CoVid proteins and the other darkens with free CoVid proteins.

 

A visual inspection gives a positive-negative binary result while a smartphone program can provide a quantitative measure of neutralizing antibody by assessing the line density.  No word yet about commercialization, but stay tuned.

 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667237522001503?via%3Dihub

 

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