Development of a low-cost multi-channel nucleic acid detection PCR instrument and clinical detection application of COVID-19

Since the COVID-19 outbreak at the end of December 2019, a variety of novel Coronavirus nucleic acid detection methods have been proposed at home and abroad. Because of the disadvantages of most existing PCR instruments on the market such as long reaction time and high cost, this study developed a more timesaving and cheaper two-channel real-time quantitative PCR instrument. In this instrument, a PCR system combining a thermal cycle system and real-time fluorescence quantitative technology was designed. The software system and data processing, optical system, thermal cycle module, and hardware module of the PCR instrument were studied. The low-cost, portable real-time quantitative PCR system has been validated with consistent results compared to Bio-rad CFX Connect. At the same time, the same samples were used for the contract experiment with the hospital instrument, and the amplification result was better than the existing instrument in the hospital.