Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

September 24, 2020

Massive and Rapid COVID-19 Testing Is Feasible by Extraction-Free SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR

Category:

Topic:

Keywords (Tags):

  • Smyrlaki et al. developed a streamlined protocol for SARS-CoV-2 testing using RT-PCR directly on heat-inactivated samples and lysates without the need for RNA extraction, which is a bottleneck in PCR testing. Their protocol achieved a sensitivity of 96% and specificity of 99.8% compared to conventional RT-PCR. The authors suggest that this novel protocol could have significant time and cost savings and help expand COVID-19 testing.

Smyrlaki et al. (Sept 23, 2020). Massive and Rapid COVID-19 Testing Is Feasible by Extraction-Free SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR. Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18611-5