Taiwanese researchers have designed the world’s first microchip platform capable of detecting SARS-CoV-2 within three minutes, the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) said yesterday, adding that the field-effect transistor biosensor (Bio-FET) is expected to hit markets as soon as next month.
The chip, which was in December granted emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration, resulted from joint research conducted by Molsentech (矽基分子), Academia Sinica, the NARL’s Taiwan Instrument Research Institute and Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital.
Yesterday, the NARL told a news conference hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology that the research was funded by ministry grants, while the hospital conducted clinical trials of the chip in which 142 of its patients participated.
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
The chip offers a three-minute rapid screening and a 20-minute complete screening, hospital vice dean Chen Yao-sheng (陳垚生) said.
Biosensors on the chip modify the electric charge passing through the chip if it detects nucleic acid characteristic of the virus that causes COVID-19, Molsentech CEO Chu Chia-jung (褚家容) added.
While quantifying a cycle threshold value and screening more accurately, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing takes at least one-and-a-half hours, the NARL said.
Antigen and antibody rapid screening tests take 15 minutes, it said, adding that antigen screenings often deliver false positives or negatives.
Antibody screening can only detect SARS-CoV-2 in the latter stages of infection, it added.
The chip is so sensitive that it does not require amplification to detect the nucleic acid, Chen said, adding that the system can even detect the virus in its incubation stage.
The chip would greatly shorten the time required to run a nucleic acid test, Chu said, adding that the system has a positivity rate of 95 percent on a nasopharyngeal sample.
“Our goal is for the system to conduct tests using just saliva samples,” she added.
The chip gives people more precise screening results in less time and at a lower cost per person of NT$3,000, she said.
The firm is offering a discount of 40 to 50 percent to all hospitals, she said, adding that it is applying for EUAs in the US and Japan.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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