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Friday 25 Sep 2015 - 21:36 Makkah mean time-12-12-1436
(Image from UC Santa Cruz)
California, (IINA) - Researchers at the University of California Santa Cruz have recently developed a chip-based technology that can accurately detect Ebola Virus. The chip is expected to help in testing and diagnosing the virus more quickly in outbreak situations, UPI reported.
Ebola is generally detected using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which amplifies the virus's genetic material to detect it. The method, however, can be time consuming because it requires sending the samples back to a lab for testing.
Holger Schmidt, one of the researchers in the study, said: "Compared to our system, PCR detection is more complex and requires a laboratory setting", he also added: "We're detecting the nucleic acids directly, and we achieve a comparable limit of detection to PCR and excellent specificity".
During lab tests of this new system, researchers saw positive detection of Ebola, the system also did not misidentify the virus with other samples such as Sudan and Marburg viruses, which are related to Ebola. The researchers also made tests using samples that contain different levels of Ebola and they found that the system could correctly identify the magnitude of the virus’s presence.
Researchers said in the study: "The massive outbreak of highly lethal Ebola hemorrhagic fever in West Africa illustrates the urgent need for diagnostic instruments that can identify and quantify infections rapidly, accurately, and with low complexity".
Finally, researchers plan to use the technology to test raw blood samples, they said they are working on adapting the system to detect other pathogens.
AG/IINA
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