Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas have developed a sensor that could detect a COVID-19 infection from your breath.
The portable, reusable breath test device, designed to provide results in less than 30 seconds, is being developed by Dallas-based SOTECH Health, which licensed the sensor technology developed by Dr. Shalini Prasad, department head and professor of bioengineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science.
The device detects chemical markers of the body’s response to the virus.
It is not a diagnostic test for COVID, instead would be used as a screening tool and followed up with diagnostic testing, like a molecular PCR test.
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"This test is revolutionary and paradigm shifting primarily because it is looking for human body's response or host response to the coronavirus," said Prasad.
SOTECH'S founding CEO Craig Micklich says the device could be used as a screening tool at places like large entertainment venues, airlines and ballparks.
"The value of the device is actually the high throughput of finding negative individuals, to push them through, to be able to get on airlines get in venues, any kind of venue," said Micklich.
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SOTECH has already applied for FDA emergency authorization now it waits to see if the COVID-19 breath analyzer will become the next weapon in ending the pandemic.
