A team of engineers from MIT and Harvard University has developed a COVID diagnostic device with a tiny footprint but huge potential. The tabletop instrument costs around $15 to manufacture and is powered by CRISPR technology. It provides COVID results from spit samples in an hour. In their new study published in Science Advances, the researchers report that the device is incredibly accurate, matching performance levels of the current gold standard, the PCR test. Moreover, the technology can be adapted to identify SARS-CoV-2 variants, making it easy to track the circulation of these mutants without the need for genetic sequencing facilities.
