Tiny nets woven from DNA strands can ensnare the spike protein of the virus that causes COVID-19, lighting up the virus for a fast-yet-sensitive diagnostic test – and also impeding the virus from infecting cells, opening a new possible route to antiviral treatment, according to a new study.

Two undergraduate students have been selected for a 10-week summer research program to carry out research at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. Karan Samat and Katy Wolhaupter are working in the labs of Joseph Irudayaraj (CGD/EIRH/MME), a Founder Professor in Bioengineering, and Xing Wang (CGD), a Research Associate Professor of Chemistry.

As health and research institutions continue to rapidly develop new methodologies for detecting SARS-CoV-2, researchers have found themselves at both forefronts of discovery and featured on the cover of the Journal of the American Chemical Society with their paper "Label-free Digital Detection of Intact Virions by Enhanced Scattering Microscopy."

Three Nick Holonyak Jr., Micro and Nanotechnology Lab (HMNTL) and IGB faculty members have received NSF Rapid Response Research (RAPID) program grants, all of which aim to shorten the amount of time it takes to process a COVID-19 test. Current tests can take as long as five days for results to be returned to the patient. Although more rapid nucleic acid tests that can give a result within an hour have become available, there are reports of a high rate of false negatives among these tests.

By folding snippets of DNA into the shape of a five-pointed star using structural DNA nanotechnology, researchers have created a trap that captures dengue virus as it floats in the bloodstream. Once sprung, the trap – which is nontoxic and is naturally cleared from the body – lights up. It’s the most sensitive test yet for the mosquito-borne diseases.