Trends and Innovations in Biosensors for COVID‐19 Mass Testing

Santiago, Ibon

Fast and widespread diagnosis is crucial to fighting against the outbreak of COVID‐19. This work surveys the landscape of available and emerging biosensor technologies for COVID‐19 testing. Molecular diagnostic assays based on quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction are used in most clinical laboratories. However, the COVID‐19 pandemic has overwhelmed testing capacity and motivated the development of fast point‐of‐care tests and the adoption of isothermal DNA amplification. Antigenic and serological rapid tests based on lateral‐flow immunoassays suffer from low sensitivity. Advanced digital systems enhance performance at the expense of speed and the need for large equipment. Emerging technologies, including CRISPR gene‐editing tools, benefit from high sensitivity and specificity of molecular diagnostics and the easy use of lateral‐flow assays. DNA sequencing and sample pooling strategies are highlighted to bring out the full capacity of the available biosensor technologies and accelerate mass testing.