Technology

NanoSPLASH will be a saliva-based COVID-19 diagnostic test that one can use at home and which will take less than an hour to give results. It will work through two easy steps. 

The user will spit into the bottle's main chamber and wait for about 10 minutes. The mixture in the main chamber will neutralize enzymes from the saliva which would otherwise interfere with the second step. Next, the user will transfer the cap to the bottom of the bottle and screw it into place, breaking a seal and allowing the contents of the main chamber to enter the chamber in the cap.

Inside the cap, DNA-based nanotechnology and an enzymatic chain reaction will decipher whether the user has a COVID-19 infection. If the user is sick, the bottom of the cap chamber will turn red after about 30 minutes. If the user is not sick, the bottom of the cap chamber will remain colorless.

Because it uses DNA-based detection, we anticipate that nanoSPLASH will possess the ability to accurately detect COVID-19 as well as the capacity to be easily modified for detection of hundreds of other types of infectious diseases.