It is impossible to defeat an enemy we cannot see
The COVID-19 pandemic has devastating social and economical impacts. These could be significantly reduced if population-wide tests for both the SARS-CoV-2 (CoV-2) virus and anti-CoV-2 antibodies would be possible.
Such dual testing at large scale requires accurate, rapid, and inexpensive procedures that can be carried out directly in the doctor’s office (point-of-care, POC) or ideally even at home. The current tests are unable to fulfilled these requirements.
We have committed our technology to develop simplified sampling procedures and novel molecular tools that, using only a few drops of capillary blood (after a fingerpick) and few milliliters of saliva, will enable to simultaneously:
- Detect antibodies against CoV-2
- Detect the presence of CoV-2 virus
- Identify biomarkers for disease severity
We expect our efforts to help not only in the current COVID-19 pandemic but also for the response to future pandemics (bats carry >200 coronaviruses).
This project has been awarded with a special grant from the Presidential office of the Max Planck Society.
If you are interested in supporting our efforts, send us an email.