SARS-CoV-2 detection with CRISPR diagnostics

Lu Guo; Xuehan Sun; Xinge Wang; Chen Liang; Haiping Jiang; Qingqin Gao; Moyu Dai; Bin Qu; Sen Fang; Yihuan Mao; Yangcan Chen; Guihai Feng; Qi Gu; Liu Wang; Ruiqi Rachel Wang; Qi Zhou; Wei Li

To make CASdetec more amenable for POCT, we have also constructed a portable dark box containing a blue LED and demonstrated that the positive fluorescence signal generated from the protocol can be visualized upon illumination by a blue LED (Fig. 1g) . In conclusion, we have established a CRISPR-assisted detection (CASdetec) platform which consists of procedures including virus handling, nucleic acid amplification and CRISPR-based detection (Fig. 1h) . CASdetec can detect pseudovirus samples with more than 1 × 10 4 copies/mL, with no cross-reactivity with other endemic human coronaviruses. In addition, we optimized the workflow to run both reactions within one single tube without lid opening. This will thus prevent aerosol contamination and reduce the false positive rate.