Prof.
Bayden Wood
(Centre for Biospectroscopy, School of Chemistry, Monash University)
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic the Biospectroscopy group within the Monash School of Chemistry have become part of a research working group headed by Prof. Dale Godfrey and Prof. Damian Purcell at the Doherty Institute to develop a new IR diagnostic for the detection of COVID-19. An infrared-based test would be reagent-less, able to test hundreds of thousands using the same instrument, be highly sensitive and inexpensive, producing results in minutes. This is cogent especially given the worldwide shortage of conventional testing kits and the long delays in getting results that in the case of virulent variants such as Delta, are costing lives. The talk will focus on new developments in the arena of point-of-site COVID testing highlighting rapid diagnostic-based tests and our new infrared based saliva screening test. We have modified a portable infrared spectrometer with purpose-built transflection accessory for rapid point-of-care detection of COVID-19 markers in saliva. Initially, purified virion particles were characterized with Raman spectroscopy, synchrotron infrared (IR) and AFM-IR. A data set comprising 171 transflection infrared spectra from 29 patients testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-qPCR and 28 testing negative, was modeled using Monte Carlo Double Cross Validation with 50 randomized test and model sets. The testing sensitivity was 93 % (27/29) with a specificity of 82 % (23/28) that included positive samples on the limit of detection for RT-qPCR. This high throughput infrared COVID-19 test is rapid, inexpensive, portable and utilizes sample self-collection, thus minimizing the risk to healthcare workers and is ideally suited to mass or personalised screening in public and private settings.
| Pronouns |
They/Them
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| Condition of submission |
Yes
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| Which facility did you use for your research |
Australian Synchrotron
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| Presenter Gender |
Man
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| Level of Expertise |
Expert
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Prof.
Bayden Wood
(Centre for Biospectroscopy, School of Chemistry, Monash University)
Dr
Kamila Kochan
(Centre for Biospectroscopy, School of Chemistry, Monash University)
Dr
Diana E. Bedola
(Elettra−Sincrotrone Trieste)
Dr
Natalia Salazar-Quiroz
(Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne)
Dr
Samantha Grimley
(Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne)
Dr
David Perez-Guaita
(Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Valencia)
Dr
Matthew J Baker
(Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry University of Strathclyde)
Jitraporn (Pimm) Vongsvivut
(Australian Synchrotron)
Dr
Mark Tobin
(ANSTO)
Keith Bambery
(ANSTO)
Dale Christensen
(Australian Synchrotron)
Dr
Shivani Pasricha
(Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne)
Dr
Anthony K Eden
(Centre for Biospectroscopy, School of Chemistry, Monash University)
Mr
Aaron Mclean
(Centre for Biospectroscopy, School of Chemistry, Monash University)
Dr
Supti Roy
(Centre for Biospectroscopy, School of Chemistry, Monash University)
Dr
Jason Roberts
(Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity)
Dr
Julian Druce
(Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity)
Prof.
Deborah A Williamson
(Department of Microbiology, Royal Melbourne Hospital)
Dr
Julie McAuley
(Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne)
Prof.
Mike Catton
(Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity)
Prof.
Damian Purcell
(Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne)
Prof.
Dale Godfrey
(Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne)
Dr
Philip Heraud
(Centre for Biospectroscopy, School of Chemistry, Monash University)
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