Even at room temperature
“The test is easy to use and even works at room temperature. The result can be seen by the naked eye or using a paper strip,” said Dr. Michael Kaminski, one of the first authors on the paper and the head of an Emmy Noether independent junior research group at Charité and the MDC. “By making clinical diagnostic tests simpler, we will be able to provide clinicians with the right tools to test at the same GP surgery instead of having to reschedule for follow-up analyses and blood tests,” added co-first author Dr. Marta Broto from Imperial College London.
CrisprZyme replaces or augments the amplification process with colorimetric analysis. A color scale indicates how much biomarker is present. This is made possible by nanozymes –tiny synthetic materials that behave like enzymes. They increase the signal of the test, making the colorimetric analysis easier to read. Temperature control and further steps are no longer necessary. The test can also detect non-coding RNA, including microRNA, long non-coding RNA, and circular RNA.
Faster and more user-friendly
“The process can tell us just how much biomarker is present, which can help us not just with diagnosing a disease, but with monitoring its progress over time and in response to treatment,” said senior author Prof. Molly Stevens of Imperial College London.
In its current form, CrisprZyme does not quite remove all the steps, as the sample must be treated with chemicals to extract the desired biomarker before the test. “But we’re working on making the process even faster and more user-friendly,” said Kaminski. The team must also carefully assess how sensitive and how reliable the test is in detecting various biomarkers in patients. Nevertheless, the scientists believe it has great potential. They’re already looking at what other diseases it could be used for.
Reference: Broto M, Kaminski MM, Adrianus C, et al. Nanozyme-catalysed CRISPR assay for preamplification-free detection of non-coding RNAs. Nat Nanotechnol. 2022. doi: 10.1038/s41565-022-01179-0
This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.
This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.
