CRISPR-Cas-rapid self-diagnosis testing

Felipe Cortés

Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), Madrid, Spain

The CRISPR-Cas gene editor has the ability to act as a kind of programmable molecular “detective” that can be activated when it encounters pathogenic genetic material or specific DNA mutations. This gives it enormous potential in biomedicine for diagnostics. However, it has a major limitation: it requires large amounts of genetic material to function, more than is usually obtained with samples from nasal or oral swabs. This makes it unsuitable for use in self-diagnosis or rapid diagnosis tests.

To overcome this obstacle, the researchers in this project have developed a pioneering method that, instead of pre-amplifying the genetic material (a procedure that must be carried out in the laboratory), triggers a CRISPR-Cas chain reaction, similar to how the well-known PCR works. This opens the door to its possible implementation as a universal rapid self-diagnosis platform. Additionally, this method, called ECR (pronounced easier), enhances the sensitivity of the test, as it is capable of detecting minute amounts of the sequences of interest.

The project aims to transfer this new methodology to the market, which would pave the way for turning CRISPR-Cas systems into rapid self-diagnosis platforms that provide users with instant and reliable genetic information.

CRISPR-Cas Endonuclease Chain Reaction: a revolution in point-of-care genetic testing

Stage 2