
Nucleic acid testing methods were quickly developed after the release of the virus genome 4, 5, 6 and serve as the primary, definitive diagnostic tool for active cases of COVID-19.
#Antibody reactivity assay full#
Efficient and accurate testing is critical to understand the full breadth of impact and to developing countermeasures to limit future infections.ĭetection of SARS-CoV-2 infection relies predominantly on two approaches: nucleic acid testing, which detects viral RNA, and serological testing, which detects antibodies elicited against SARS-CoV2 antigens. As of November 10, 2020, over 51 million cases and over 1.2 million deaths have been reported due to COVID-19, and the disease continues to be a source of economic and societal strain. Officially named severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses due to its phylogenetic relatedness to SARS and SARS-like coronaviruses 3, the virus causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In the ensuing months the virus became established internationally through travel and community transmission, leading to the declaration of a pandemic by the WHO on Ma2. In December 2019, a novel coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China, causing severe respiratory disease with initial reported fatality rates of 2–3% 1. In a broader sense, BLI-ISA can be developed as a novel diagnostic platform to evaluate antibodies and other biomolecules in clinical specimens. Importantly, our method can be immediately implemented on existing BLI platforms for urgent COVID-19 studies, such as serosurveillance and the evaluation of vaccine candidates. BLI-ISA meets or exceeds the performance of high complexity methods such as Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and Chemiluminescent Immunoassay.

Complete semi-quantitative results are obtained in less than 20 min. Our biolayer interferometry immunosorbent assay (BLI-ISA) utilizes single-use biosensors in an automated “dip-and-read” format, providing real-time optical measurements of antigen loading, plasma antibody binding, and antibody isotype detection. Here, we describe a novel application of biolayer interferometry for the rapid detection of antigen-specific antibody levels in plasma samples, and demonstrate its utility for quantification of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

Serological testing to evaluate antigen-specific antibodies in plasma is generally performed by rapid lateral flow test strips that lack quantitative results or by high complexity immunoassays that are time- and labor-intensive but provide semi-quantitative results.
