New diagnostic tool achieves accuracy of PCR tests with faster and simpler nanopore system

Researchers from the University of California Santa Cruz have created a lab-on-a-chip diagnostic system that combines optofluidics and nanopore technology. To run the test, a sample of biofluid is mixed in a container with magnetic microbeads. The microbeads are designed with a matching RNA sequence of the disease for which the test is designed to detect. The microbeads are put into a silicon microfluidics chip, where they are caught in a light beam that pushes them against a wall that contains a nanopore. The researchers apply heat to the chip, which makes the RNA sequences come off the microbeads and get sucked into the nanopore, which detects that the virus RNA is present.