The biomedical team in the School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University (ECNU), has successfully developed the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) antibody rapid test kit, which can produce the testing result within 10 minutes with only one drop of blood. Currently, the kit has been handed over to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University for clinical trials on patients with suspected infection, close contacts, and confirmed cases.
Zhao Wenxiang(left) , leader of the emergency research team, works with his colleagues.
“We have been working on the test kit and therapeutic neutralizing antibody during the Spring Festival and have obtained some effective results,” said Zhao Wenxiang, a PhD student in the School of Life Sciences.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, Liu Mingyao, Dean of the School of Life Sciences, went into action immediately. Together with Qiu Yunqing, Executive Vice Director of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, they formed an emergency research team. They launched substantial research on the test kit and the therapeutic neutralizing antibody on January 10 when the viral sequences were released. The research was funded by the Education Foundation of Zhejiang University.
During the whole Spring Festival, Zhao Wenxiang and other team members, including Chu Min, Wei Haitao, and Chao Ruihua, had worked together on this program with Prof. Du Bing from the School of Life Sciences, ECNU, and Doctor Lou Yan from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University.
The team selected multiple 2019-nCoV dominante pitope peptides and, on this basis, developed an IgG/IgM antibody test kit with high sensitivity and specificity. The kit is easy to operate and can produce the testing result within 10 minutes with only one drop of blood. It is now being tested on patients with suspected infection, close contacts, and confirmed cases in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University.
Source: ECNU News Agency
Copy editor: Philip Nash
Editor: Zhang Linlan
