A team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a real-time air monitor that can detect any of the SARS-CoV-2 virus variants that are present in a room in about 5 minutes.
The proof-of-concept device was created by researchers from the McKelvey School of Engineering and the School of Medicine at Washington University. The team includes Rajan Chakrabarty, the Harold D. Jolley Career Development Associate Professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering in McKelvey Engineering; Joseph Puthussery, a postdoctoral research associate in Chakrabarty’s lab; John Cirrito, professor of neurology at the School of Medicine; and Carla Yuede, associate professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine.
The results are contained in a July 10 publication in Nature Communications that provides details about how the technology works.