PCR Tests: Higher Efficiency due to Magnetic Particles KIT invention is applied in millions of corona tests worldwide. Market share of about 25 percent in Germany
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chair:
IFG / KIT News 2021
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place:
KIT News 2021
- Date: 2021
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The PCR test is currently the most reliable method to detect an infection with SARS-CoV-2. Fragments of the genetic material of the virus are detected. The genetic material contained in the smear must first be purified and concentrated. The most effective methods use specially coated magnetic particles for this purification. An invention by KIT scientists makes this complex method more efficient.
It was developed by Matthias Franzreb and Jonas Wohlgemuth at the KIT Institute for Functional Interfaces. In their method, the particles are manipulated with metal needles whose magnetic attraction can be switched on and off from the outside. This allows the particles to be transported to a new vessel for the next purification step, where they are rapidly rotated to redistribute the DNA fragments - like tiny stirrers. The process runs quickly and fully automatically with 96 needles simultaneously. "This allows the genetic material to be extracted from 96 samples in 30 minutes," explains Franzreb. "So one device can prepare more than 4 000 samples in 24 hours."