COVID DIAGNOSTICS SPRINT

Sixty-nine (69) Entries were received from an international community of corporations, universities and government labs. This community included a total of 50 non-traditional institutions (primarily small organizations with less than 20 employees) featuring prototype level solutions. The aim of this call was rapid and efficient diagnosis, with emphasis on rapid point of care testing and diagnostics. While submissions that required saliva or nasal samples were dominant, seven (7) submissions were focused on breath analysis with one submission involving analysis of chest x-rays. Functionally, all submissions categorized into 4 main technical groups: 1) nucleic acid amplification; 2) biosensors; 3) optical spectroscopy; and 3) other innovative methods.

Highlights from the pool of Entries include:

• >25% of the Entries include direct SARS-CoV-2 measurements or data.
• Nucleic acid amplification was featured in 20 of the submissions
  primarily on analysis of saliva samples, involving improvements to
  PCR and LAMP, reduction of the number of steps in the protocol,
  self-diagnosis solutions, and use of CRISPR technology.
• Most biosensor solutions prioritized ease of self-administration and
  emphasized material innovations (nanocomposites, molecularly
  imprinted polymers), as well as novel methods using photonics and
  electrochemical sensing.
• Spectroscopic methods mainly involve Raman (or surface enhanced
  Raman) spectroscopy targeting the distinctive SARS-CoV 2 Raman
  spectrum, novel probes for fluorescence-based measurements, and
  state-of-the-art optical metasurfaces for detection.