VBFF Tim Manning Swager (c/o 2018) has developed assays for bacteria that are fast with record sensitivity. The paper is about to be accepted in PNAS and the method can be configured to create assays for the COVID-19 virus with appropriate recognition elements for the spike protein. Swager has applied for funding for this project with a collaborator that is developing the recognition elements. If successful, they will begin to do research in this area and but plan to carryout the research regardless, but over a less accelerated time line.
*Researcher cited using VBFF or LUCI funds.