A team of researchers from the University of Messina and Bologna have developed a "do it yourself" test for 
molecular diagnostics of all viruses and bacteria. It is a new technology, capable of performing
the molecular identification, ie of their DNA or RNA, quickly, reliably and at low cost, without the need to go to an analysis laboratory where currently such tests (so-called molecular swabs) must necessarily be carried out.
The research group that developed the rapid molecular "do-it-yourself" test is coordinated by Sabrina Conoci, full professor of Physics at the University of Messina, and by Luca Prodi and Giovanni Valenti, from the University of Bologna. "This technological discovery, reads the UniMe note, opens a new era for molecular diagnostics that will finally be within everyone's reach".
To explain the new technology is prof. Get to know us; «it is based on the combination of an innovative electro-photo biochemical method integrated on a biochip of a few millimeters capable of detecting the presence of a few copies of the genetic material of pathogens without any amplification of the genome.
The discovery represents a "radical new technology" that simplifies and speeds up conventional PCR-based molecular analysis; opening prospects for the massive use of molecular diagnostics and screening on a wide range of applications".
The rapid molecular "do it yourself" test
The effectiveness of the new scientific technology has already been tested on real samples of SARS-Cov-2, obtaining a 
detection limit of its RNA even lower than that of the so-called molecular buffer.
«I am very proud that researchers from our University have developed such a technology, said the Rector of the University of Messina, Salvatore Cuzzocrea, because it opens up the future prospects of being able to have the availability of "rapid molecular" tests: with the ease of use of current antigen tests, but with the sensitivity and reliability of laboratory molecular tests. A fundamental invention.
And then having collaborated with a prestigious university such as that of Bologna to achieve this result in the field of infection diagnostics, continued the Rector, means having exploited a very important synergy, a fundamental element when you want to do research with a high social impact". The project is the subject of 5 joint patents between the two universities and has recently received European funding, Pathfinder, aimed at the development of revolutionary technologies.
Source: Norman – 26 May 2022
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