When someone is infected with the COVID-19 virus, their body will produce antibodies designed to fight infection. This is the same effect as the vaccine, giving patients these antibodies even if they have never been exposed to COVID-19 before.
But the question is, how do we know if we have those antibodies?
To find out usually involves a test using a technique called immunochromatography that can determine whether antibodies have been produced or not. But this is not the best or most appropriate technique and testing can take days or even weeks.
Well, researcher Yoshihiro Ito from RIKEN CEMS and his team have produced a rapid antibody testing kit that can provide results in just 30 minutes. This technology was actually developed by Ito a few years ago that can immobilize organic compounds to help measure immune infection history.
Over the years the technology has improved and has since expanded to include more than 40 different allergens and now also includes some of the key COVID-19 proteins.
The way it works is that the microchip is coated with a substance that reacts to light. A liquid sample containing the desired protein is dropped onto a microchip and then exposed to ultraviolet light which immobilizes the protein.
A CCD camera is then used to measure the amount of light emitted that occurs when antibodies in the blood serum bind to viral proteins, and from there, the system can then count the amount of antibodies present.
"Standard quantitative analysis of antibodies usually requires half a milliliter of blood drawn from one of your arms, which is a lot! But in our system all it takes is a drop of blood from a fingertip and the sensitivity of the system is 500 times higher than conventional immunochromatography which means detection can be made even when very low antibody count." Ito said.
