CRISPR Test: Low Cost, Simple and Fast Flu Test

The test uses CRISPR to distinguish between the main seasonal influenza types: influenza A + B, as well as the seasonal influenza subtypes H1N1 and H3N2, can also identify strains that are resistant to conventional antiviral treatment, and has the potential to detect swine and bird flu strains, including H5N1, which is currently infecting cattle.

The high disease burden of influenza viruses poses a major threat to human health. Influenza testing urgently requires optimized diagnostic techniques that combine speed, sensitivity, and specificity with minimum equipment requirements to detect many circulating influenza species, subtypes, and mutants when needed.

Researchers from MIT's Broad Institute, Harvard University, and Princeton University have developed a low-cost strip test that could allow patients to find out what kind of flu they have and get the right treatment. The test uses CRISPR to distinguish between the main seasonal influenza types: influenza A and influenza B, as well as the seasonal influenza subtypes H1N1 and H3N2, can also identify strains that are resistant to conventional antiviral treatment, and has the potential to detect swine and bird flu strains, including H5N1, which is currently infecting cattle.

The detection based on SHINE technology, developed by Sabeti LABS in 2020, uses CRISPR enzymes to identify specific viral RNA sequences in samples. The researchers used SHINE to detect SARS-CoV-2 and distinguish between the Delta and Omicron variants. In 2022, they began tweaking this test target to detect another virus they knew had been circulating: influenza. Next, the researchers are tweaking SHINE to test for avian and swine flu strains.