A Palm Germ-Radar (PaGeR) for rapid and simple COVID-19 detection by reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP)

The current COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is raging, seriously threatening people's lives. The establishment of rapid and accurate pathogen detection technology is not only critical in this epidemic, but also a reminder that we must always be prepared for possible future outbreaks. Therefore, we developed a Palm Germ-Radar (PaGeR) device for rapid and simple detection of COVID-19 from extracted patient sample RNA by RT-LAMP. The whole procedure of rapid COVID-19 detection is based on 4 simple steps: inactivation, extraction, amplification, and detection. SARS-CoV-2 down to 1 copy/μL could be detected selectively with naked-eye. Three detection methods (colorimetric, fluorometric and lateral dipstick readout) could be performed in PaGeR instrument. By employing the PaGeR, we successfully detected SARS-CoV-2 in clinical RNA samples isolated from swab specimens. The results showed that 15 out of 17 COVID-19 patients were diagnosed as positive while all 55 normal samples were diagnosed as negative. Therefore, the developed PaGeR instrument can realize the detection of COVID-19 with easily visualized results, providing a promising instrument for rapid detection in the community as well as at home.