CAP TODAY Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Laboratory Management
September 2020—Integrated DNA Technologies and Sherlock Biosciences have entered into a strategic collaboration to enable large-scale manufacturing of the Sherlock CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 kit for the detection of COVID-19. IDT will supply several components, including the Cas13a enzyme, on which the test is based, as well as a CRISPR RNA and primer mix.
The kit, which received FDA emergency use authorization, provides specific and sensitive detection of the virus in patient samples and does not require specialized instruments to complete a test. The kit works by programming a CRISPR nuclease to detect the presence of the genetic signature for SARS-CoV-2 in a nasal swab, nasopharyngeal swab, oropharyngeal swab, or bronchoalveolar lavage specimen. When the signature is found, the CRISPR enzyme is activated and cuts both the target viral RNA and the reporter RNAs provided as part of the kit and used during the detection reaction. Results are available in about an hour.