Glow-in-the-dark proteins offer cheap and fast diagnostic tests
Covid-19 can be detected with the sensitivity of PCR and the ease of lateral flow
A bioluminescent nucleic acid sensor (Lunas) test has been developed that matches the speed and accessibility of a Covid-19 lateral flow test with the sensitivity of a PCR test.
Fast accessible disease diagnosis saves lives, as vividly illustrated during the Covid-19 pandemic. However even as tests for the disease became more accessible users were faced with a trade-off between polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests that require complex and expensive analysis over several days at a test centre, or a lateral flow test that yields results within minutes there and then but with potentially a thousandfold less sensitivity.