Diagnostics of SARS-CoV2 antibodies

The detection of antibodies is of great importance during or after a suspected infection. This allows to check whether patients are immune to COVID-19. ISAR Bioscience is, therefore, cooperating in a research network on particularly fast and reliable detection methods of antibodies directed against Corona and other viruses. The Bavarian Research Foundation will fund the project "Research on rapid microarray antibody tests for COVID-19 differential diagnosis (CoVRapid)" with about 650,000 euros.

In addition to rapid determination, high sensitivity and specificity are important for antibody tests. While conventional antibody tests only detect a single virus protein, the new multiplex antibody test by ISAR Bioscience and its partners uses a whole set of recombinant antigens which allows for detection of antibodies against various SARS-CoV2 mutants (alpha, beta, delta and currently omicron), as well as “older” corona viruses and other virus species. An automated micro-array test based on microfluidics evaluates the antibody patterns within 5 minutes, using just one drop of blood. This approach enables a differential analysis of immunity.