St Cross DPhil student Boon Lim is part of a team of scientists developing a rapid coronavirus detection kit. The team, headed by Prof Zhanfeng Cui and Prof Wei Huang (Boon's supervisor), is comprised of scientists from the University of Oxford’s Engineering Science Department and the Oxford Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research (OSCAR) to improve test capabilities as COVID-19 spreads internationally.
The new test is three times faster than existing COVID-19 tests, taking just 30 minutes, and may be able to identify patients in earlier stages of infection. Early clinical sampling from China shows promise, and the team is now working to run clinical validations in the UK. Details of the project are available here.