The development of rapid, accurate and affordable diagnostic tests is essential for screening the population in order to properly manage and control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). The advent of vaccines will lead to populational studies to evaluate antibody response in immunized patients. However, current diagnostic techniques rely on tests which are time-consuming, must be performed in a specialized laboratory, and are limited in terms of sensitivity and specificity to active infection. Optical biosensors have the potential to overcome the current limitations in serological techniques for COVID-19. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a very sensitive technique which allows real-time and label-free detection of molecular interactions, can reduce test time to minutes, and can be used at the point of care for infectious diseases.<br/><br/>In order to be able to detect antibodies against the novel coronavirus, we optimized various analytical parameters to increase the specific interactions between SARS-CoV-2 proteins and human antibodies and to decrease the non-specific adsorptions of other proteins to ensure a sensitive and specific test. Different COVID-19 proteins, such as the Nucleocapsid, the RBD domain of the Spike and the complete Spike have been used to detect animal antibodies raised against each protein. Although the direct detection of antibodies worked well, the use of a secondary antibody improved the results significantly in human serum. The validation of tests with animal antibodies made it possible to move on to the next step, which consists in using this detection method with a first cohort of clinical samples that will be presented. We will show that antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were detected with SPR and ELISA in patients with confirmed COVID-19 within one week from the outset of symptom to week 24.

Rapid quantification of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies with a portable surface plasmon resonance biosensor

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.