SINGAPORE – Local medical technology company Cell ID has created a portable polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test kit that can confirm if someone has Covid-19 in five minutes.
Chief technology officer Xander Sim said those administering the test would not need specialised training or a laboratory to produce results.
The nasal swab test is run through an app on a laptop, and requires less than two hours of training to operate.
However, the operator must be trained to take nasal swab samples.
“This way, when passengers come in at an airport, you only need to hold them for a short time before you get a result,” Mr Sim said on Monday (Nov 30) at a press conference to announce the Quiz PCR Biochip test kit.
The “gold standard” for Covid-19 testing is the PCR test.
However, PCR tests require highly specialised labs and technicians to run the tests, and liquid reagents that must be kept refrigerated.
It can also take days to return the results.
Increasingly, as Singapore seeks to reopen its economy further, it has been tapping antigen rapid tests (ARTs), which can produce results in under 30 minutes.
But ARTs have lower sensitivity and specificity, and may carry a higher risk of false positives and false negatives.
Mr Sim said Cell ID’s PCR test can confirm a positive case in five minutes, and a negative case in under an hour.
“The aim was to develop a device that is accurate, without any compromise in the test result, but at a very affordable price… a test kit that someone in the third world can use as well,” added Mr Sim.
The Quiz PCR Biochip has 97 per cent to 100 per cent sensitivity to Covid-19, and a specificity of 100 per cent.
This is comparable to conventional PCR tests, unlike other rapid tests that are fast but have less specificity and sensitivity.
With the Quiz PCR Biochip, the nasal swab sample is first mixed in a solution.
A very small quantity of the resultant mix – 10 microlitres – is then combined with another solution.
This ensures that the virus’ genetic signature is in sufficiently high quantities for it to be detected.
The mixture is then put into one of two test wells on the Quiz PCR Biochip, which itself is smaller than a credit card.
The chip is then plugged into a special USB dongle, dubbed “Poche”, and connected to a laptop for the test to begin. The results can be monitored in real time.
Gene segments of the virus consume reagents in the solution as the virus multiplies, showing up as a dip in the graph that is displayed on the laptop screen.
Depending on the number of USB ports available, multiple tests can be run at the same time.
The chip is disposed off after each test.
Trained in engineering
Mr Sim, 56, spent more than three decades in the engineering and manufacturing fields before switching in 2013 to developing medical diagnostic tools, despite having no background in biology.
He invented Quiz PCR Biochip in 2015 and it was originally used for HIV tests in 2018.
Mr Sim said he had to endure years of failed prototypes, which also saw him suffer two strokes. It left him temporarily blind and with a weak left leg.
“(I told God) I don’t need to live for 100 years, just give me a little more time so I can finish my work and my mission,” Mr Sim recalled at a press conference on Monday.
In April, amid the circuit breaker, Cell ID developed a reagent that allowed it to be used to test for Covid-19.
Mr Sim said that it is difficult to predict how much testing will cost when using Cell ID’s chip, as it would depend on factors such as the overhead costs incurred by the testing agency.
He said it currently costs less than US$50 (S$67) to produce one of the chips, but this is expected to fall with economies of scale.
Tested at dorms
The Quiz PCR Biochip was tested at the S11 dormitory and the Expo Community Care Facility earlier this year, in collaboration with staff from Sengkang General Hospital and Woodlands Health Campus.
Out of the 215 people who were tested using the chips, 27 positive cases were detected.
Mr Sim recalled: “The first result came back positive within seven minutes. We were overwhelmed.”
He said everyone at the command centre was surprised an accurate Covid-19 test could be done on-site.
“I nearly teared up,” he added.
The tests were also verified at a third-party lab in Switzerland in November, where it was discovered that the biochip could detect the coronavirus equally well in saliva and nasal swab specimens.
Mr Sim said he is excited about this, as saliva tests are faster and require less equipment than nasal swab tests.
They are also not as uncomfortable for the patient.
He is currently waiting for regulatory approval from the authorities, such as the United States’ Food and Drug Administration and Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority, for the kit to be used.
Mr Sim said: “My hope is that the test can be deployed globally and that it will be useful in helping countries to open up safely again.
“That is my greatest hope.”
