22.10.20, PCR alternative: RT-LAMP, a new SARS-CoV-2 test “Made in Vienna”
Scientists from the Vienna BioCenter developed a new SARS-CoV-2 detection method: by rather simple means, their RT-LAMP test is cheaper than PCR testing and achieves results with comparable sensitivity and specificity. The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) therefore recommends its use for hospitals and diagnostic laboratories that do not yet have established PCR diagnostics.
In the course of the current COVID-19 pandemic, it is becoming increasingly evident how basic biomedical research can produce solutions to social challenges: at the Vienna BioCenter, researchers have been pooling their expertise since spring and set themselves the clear goal of improving technologies for nucleic acid detection and developing test protocols for the novel coronavirus. The result is now available: RT-LAMP represents a fast, simple and inexpensive alternative to the “gold standard” PCR test. The protocol was developed by a cross-institutional team from the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) together with the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP): Max Kellner, Julian Ross, Dominik Handler, Martin Matl, and Jakob Schnabl, under the supervision of IMBA’s Julius Brennecke, also faculty member in DK RNA Biology PhD Programm, and IMP’s Andrea Pauli, also faculty member of the Special Research Programm RNA-DECO.
See the full story in the Vienna BioCenter News.
More information about LAMP: Instructions, explanatory videos and material lists: www.rtlamp.org