Iran (IMNA) – Attaching great importance to the recently developed technology, the head of the Research Institute for Biotechnology (RIB) at Isfahan University of Technology said, "Predicted on the assigned mission by Isfahan Governor's Office to develop rapid Covid-19 testing kits for infection prevention and control, relevant researches on this advanced and cost-effective detection tool carried out during six months and led to the production of the testing kits."
"This research project has been carried out by the Research Institute for Biotechnology (RIB) and Ahura Nanobiotechnology Company, a knowledge-based corporation, at Isfahan University of Technology," Dr. Sabiheh Soleimanian-Zad added.
"The results of ELISA and RT-PCR tests are provided in 3-4 hours, but these kits confirm the presence of anti-2019 novel coronavirus antibodies in serum samples in less than 15 minutes with naked eyes, due to the use of gold nanoparticles," Dr. Amir Hossein Jalali, the Vice-Chancellor of Research Affairs of Research Institute for Biotechnology (RIB) at Isfahan University of Technology, said.
stressing that antibody tests do not typically replace direct detection methods to diagnose active coronavirus infection, he added, "Concerning the emergence of the new wave of Covid-19 and the need for rapid detection of COVID-19 causative virus to take preventive and curative measures, this type of detection kit can be a useful tool to identify patients at high risk of early progression to severe COVID-19."
Pointing out that the purpose of this project is accelerating the achievement of the reliable results and reducing COVID-19 testing costs, he said, "most materials used to create this kit are manufactured in the country, while making kits available in global market is mainly dependent on suppliers in foreign countries, which impose high costs on production due to the exchange rate and sanctions."
"Developing highly sensitive and reliable rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19 along with the molecular tests that provide the possibility of qualitative evaluation of the presence of virus‐specific IgM and IgG antibodies in the body within a very short space of time , least cost, and without need for advanced large-scale laboratory equipment are the major targets of our research project " Jalali ended.
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