Prof. Nir Friedman and Dr. Naomi Habib of the Hebrew University claim that they have developed a more effective and cheaper method for diagnosing the virus • Next step: Testing for 15,000 people in parallel

• Corona Testing Lab

  Photo:

  Eyal Margolin - Ginny

Researchers at the Hebrew University say they have developed a new method for diagnosing corona that is 4-10 times faster than the common test today. According to the researchers, most of the new test materials are in Israel in every laboratory, regardless of international commercial companies.

The method developed in the laboratories of Prof. Nir Friedman and Dr. Naomi Habib is based on materials that are not in world shortage and can be recycled and used for further tests. The next step in the study is to increase the number of tests with a new method that will enable the simultaneous examination of 15,000 people.

In fact, the new test developed by the researchers does the same operation that the normal test does, only from materials that have no deficiency and at a much higher speed. Another benefit of the new test is that most of the test materials are already available and can be manufactured today in Israel and at a significantly lower cost than the currently imported kits. The magnetic beads are the only element that needs to be imported from overseas, but they can be recycled and used for further corona testing.

Prof. Nir Friedman: "Our method enables independence and significantly reduces the dependence on external factors for conducting the tests. We have already run the method on hundreds of Hadassah samples and all the tests turned out identical to the results obtained in the current test."

The next step in the researchers' research is to develop a method that will allow tens of thousands of samples to be tested simultaneously and not just thousands of tests as is done today. This method will be based on genomic flooring tools, and in the meantime the results are promising. Prof. Friedman: "We are in the process of developing a test that will allow testing of 15,000 people at the same time. We already have very positive indications that encourage us that it can work."