As the world grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic, a Nigerian laboratory has developed test kit to help curb the spread of the virus.

Development Diaries gathered that the new test kit was developed by a professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics at the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), Ede, Osun State, Christian Happi, in collaboration with a professor at the Centre for Systems Biology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, Pardis Sabeti.

‘The good thing about this test (SHERLOCK) is that it takes only 30 minutes and can be administered by anyone, anywhere, unlike the PCR test which takes about seven to eight hours and requires the use of heavy machinery’, Happi said during a phone interview.

‘We are using the gene-editing technology to design a diagnostic that will recognise only Covid-19 sequence because we have done the sequencing. We identified areas in the genome of Covid-19 that are very peculiar to Covid-19, hence we designed a guide RNA (a molecule that helps the diagnostics recognise the specific sequence peculiar to Covid-19)’.

Concerning pricing, Happi said, ‘While a PCR test costs $125 (N48,838), the paper strip test will cost only $3 (N1,163)’.

In 2014, Happi helped confirm the diagnosis of the first case of Ebola disease in Nigeria, and went on to closely work with health authorities for the containment of the outbreak.

His five-minute diagnosis test kit for Lassa fever also received approval from the World Health Organisation and the United States Food and Drug Administration.

Source: Premium Times

Photo source: Governor Tom Wolf