McMaster University racing to create home-based COVID-19 test

McMaster University researchers are hoping to get a home-based COVID-19 testing kit approved and manufacturedin the next several months.

A release from the school says the self-diagnosis kit would generate a test result in just 20 minutes, which would spare people from having to visit a doctor's office, hospital or lab to find out if they are infected. It would also allow people who may notbe eligible for testing, like those without symptoms or those with uncommon symptoms, to find out if they are infected.

This comes asthe province plans to start a new testing strategy that will see 8,000 tests a day by April 15 and 14,000 by April 29.

How will this test work?

Researchers saidpeople wouldswab their mucous and put it in a small vial of liquid.The test amplifies the RNA (genetic material)in the sample at room temperature. Then, the test would generate a line, like a pregnancy test, to signal whether the novel coronavirus is in the mucous.

The release says the technology is based on past research fromMcMaster's Biointerfaces Institute which looked at developing tests for E. coli andH. pylori, a bacterium that causes peptic ulcers and other digestive problems.

How long will it take to create the test?

John Brennan, theinstitute's director, said the test kit could be approved and manufactured in thenext several months.

While the teamis using seed funding from the school to start working on the test, itis also working on answering basic questions around the science, funding, manufacturing and regulations around the technology.

They hope to find public and private partners tomove the research and commercialization forward.

"We're looking down the road at the next wave of testing, which we expect is going to be home-based self-testing," Brennan said in the release.

"We want to get a self-administered test out the door as quickly as we can. It could be really important for identifying new clusters and stopping community spread by asymptomatic carriers."