The collaboration of scientist to create new technology bases on Physics for COVID-19 detection

Unavailability of sufficient data for the scientist and health workers due to inadequate testing needed to detect and trace the infection is one of the main problems in taking the best decision for public health. Most of the test that uses biochemicals are expensive and difficult to produce, require long turnaround times for test results and produce a high number of false-negative results. Newer testing methods that detect antibodies in the blood, based on the so-called ELISA method, are rapidly coming online, scientists and physicians question their efficacy.

The project named "Development of a New Test for SARS-CoV-2 using Single Molecule Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy" was recently awarded a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Rapid Response Research (RAPID) funding program supporting virus-related research. This is started by the NAU professor Miguel José Yacamán, a physicist and materials scientist in the Center for Materials Interfaces in Research and Applications (¡MIRA!) and his interdisciplinary team.

"The project team will use non-traditional techniques to detect the virus in infected patients. We will develop an alternative method based on recent advances in physics related to the interaction of light with matter," he said.

The method, Single-Molecule Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SM-SERS), will detect the S proteins of the SARs-Cov-2 virus, which participate in infection at the cellular level. "The ability of SM-SERS to detect as little as one molecule of protein will enable healthcare professionals to detect infection early and follow up with patients who recover from the illness."

José Yacamán will work in collaboration with two ¡MIRA! colleagues, associate professor Andy Koppisch, a biochemist, and associate professor of practice Rob Kellar, a biomedical engineer; and with Regents' Professor Paul Keim, a microbial geneticist, and professor Dave Wagner, a disease ecologist, both with NAU's Pathogen and Microbiome Institute (PMI).

**Information is collected from different sources.