DESIGNING SIMPLE, COST-EFFECTIVE, RAPID AND FIELD DEPLOYABLE CRISPR-Cas BASED NUCLEIC ACID DETECTION METHODS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF COVID-19

Abstract

We all are aware of the COVID-19 pandemic situation; India recently experienced a second wave of infections – in which many states reported cases in thousands every day. To stop any COVID-19 wave, controlling the chain reaction is very important, which can only become possible by mass covid testing - to isolate and quarantine people having the disease quickly. For this, rapid testing methods that does not require sophisticated and costly equipment are a must. RT-PCR is the golden standard and the best method that can be used for detection, but it takes 2 – 4 hours (1 – 2 hrs for assay), and its equipment is very costly and thus is only present in some of the labs. Due to the limited number of labs having PCR facilities, these central labs get overloaded with samples during waves of infection– resulting in delays of 2 to 4 days, as only a limited number of samples can be tested in a day. Moreover, transportation of samples from the sample collection facilities to these labs results in more delay, i.e., the result takes a minimum of 24 hours, even in normal circumstances, which is one of the major hindrances in stopping the chain of infections in the country. On the other hand, antibody based tests are rapid but costly and give positive results only weeks after the onset of symptoms. In this project, I have tried to design simple, rapid, cheap nucleic acid detection methods based on CRISPR-Cas system, that do not require sophisticated and costly instruments and can be used by untrained people – so that every small lab, hospitals in a locality and people themselves would be able to perform the test quickly. I have tried to achieve specificity like PCR but with rapidity like antigen tests. Unfortunately, I could not prove the working of any of the discussed designs experimentally due to the COVID-19 pandemic