March 15, 2021: Current tests for the British and South African coronavirus variants are either expensive, time-consuming, or indirect. BGU scientists have developed a direct rapid cost-effective test that successfully identifies the British or South African variant. The tests reduce the time needed to determine whether an infection is caused by a variant from days to hours.
Their findings were just published on the preprint digital archive MedRxiv.
The current standard for coronavirus variants testing is sequencing the entire virus genome, which is expensive and time-consuming. Now, Dr. Karin Yaniv and Dr. Eden Ozer, under the supervision of Prof. Ariel Kushmaro, have developed two RT-qPCR rapid tests based on the gene deletion that differentiates the variants from the original SARS-CoV-2 strain.
The team tried their tests on sewage samples from Beer-Sheva and successfully detected the British variant and not the South African one, which corresponded to the variants prevalent in Israel at the time.
"My lab has been working hard throughout this pandemic to provide early warning and detection tools. Our detection system of corona in wastewater successfully completed a pilot program in 14 cities around Israel," says Prof. Kushmaro, "We continue to refine our research in service to humankind."
Dr. Yaniv and Prof. Kushmaro are members of the Environmental Biotechnology Lab and the Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering. Dr. Ozer is a member of the Department of Life Sciences. Additional researchers include Noam Plotkin and Nikhil Suresh Bhandarkar.
The research was supported by Ben-Gurion University's Coronavirus Research Taskforce and the Israeli Ministry of Health.
About Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) is the fastest growing research university in Israel. With 20,000 students, 4,000 staff and faculty members, and three campuses in Beer-Sheva, Sde Boker and Eilat, BGU is an agent of change, fulfilling the vision of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s legendary first prime minister, who envisaged the future of Israel emerging from the Negev. The University is at the heart of Beer-Sheva's transformation into an innovation district, where leading multinational corporations and start-ups eagerly leverage BGU’s expertise to generate innovative R&D.
BGU effects change, locally, regionally and internationally. With faculties in Engineering Sciences; Health Sciences; Natural Sciences; Humanities and Social Sciences; Business and Management; and Desert Studies, the University is a recognized national and global leader in many fields, actively encouraging multi-disciplinary collaborations with government and industry, and nurturing entrepreneurship and innovation in all its forms.
BGU is also a university with a conscience, active both on the frontiers of science and in the community. Over a third of our students participate in one of the world's most developed community action programs.
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