What is it about?
Assays similar to home pregnancy tests are easy to use, but despite their apparent simplicity, many technical parameters must be considered in their development. This article focuses on the development of serology tests for SARS-CoV-2 from a bioengineering standpoint, including both rapid assays as well as laboratory-based assays.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Our article in Talanta (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0039914020311747?dgcid=author) details many of the technical considerations and challenges to developing such assays.
Perspectives
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has highlighted the need for robust analytical techniques for both diagnosis and retrospective exposure tracking. Such assays which previously were developed behind the scenes for other conditions garnered much attention from the general population, media, and politicians. The spotlight, along with regulatory efforts through the EUA process, helped to weed out assays which did not perform well and may have been rushed to meet the market demand. Given the expertise needed in developing robust immunoassays, caution is warranted in adopting assay technologies from sources without a demonstrated track record of success in this area. But the many SARS-CoV-2 assays that didn’t make the cut also raises a broader analytical assay question-to what extent in the laboratory realm can we universally rely on assays marketed for ‘research use only’ for applications that don’t face the same level of scrutiny?
Katie Edwards
Binghamton University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Technical considerations to development of serological tests for SARS-CoV-2, Talanta, November 2020, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2020.121883.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
