Magnetic-Nanosensor-Based Virus and Pathogen Detection Strategies before and during COVID-19

Abstract

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is a threat to the global healthcare system and economic security. As of July 2020, no specific drugs or vaccines are yet available for COVID-19; a fast and accurate diagnosis for SARS-CoV-2 is essential in slowing the spread of COVID-19 and for efficient implementation of control and containment strategies. Magnetic nanosensing is an emerging topic representing the frontiers of current biosensing and magnetic areas. The past decade has seen rapid growth in applying magnetic tools for biological and biomedical applications. Recent advances in magnetic nanomaterials and nanotechnologies have transformed current diagnostic methods to nanoscale and pushed the detection limit to early-stage disease diagnosis. Herein, this review covers the literature of magnetic nanosensors for virus and pathogen detection before COVID-19. We review popular magnetic nanosensing techniques including magnetoresistance, magnetic particle spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance. Magnetic point-of-care diagnostic kits are also reviewed aiming at developing plug-and-play diagnostics to manage the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak as well as preventing future epidemics. In addition, other platforms that use magnetic nanomaterials as auxiliary tools for enhanced pathogen and virus detection are also covered. The goal of this review is to inform the researchers of diagnostic and surveillance platforms for SARS-CoV-2 and their performances.

State-of-the-Art of Nanodiagnostics and Nanotherapeutics against SARS-CoV-2

“…The prominent magnetic and more specifically superparamagnetic properties along with the intense signal due to the slight background noise in biological specimens makes MNPs interesting materials for biosensing. 121 In magnetic nanosensors, MNPs could be decorated with antibodies or oligonucleotide probes (RNA/DNA sequences) special to the target analytes. As mentioned before, PCR-based techniques are the gold standard diagnosis methods to detect infected patients.…”

An overview of technologies and devices against COVID-19 pandemic diffusion: virus detection and monitoring solutions

“…Among the others, bio-sensing technologies, magnetoresistive biosensors, electrochemical biosensors, and plas monic biosensors have attracted attention in the last years. Wu et al (2020) proposed an analysis of magnetic nano-sensors for virus and pathogen detection before . They demonstrated that magnetic nano-sensors are more versatile and applicable for antibody, antigen, and nucleic acid detection.…”

“…Wu et al presented a portable GMR bio-detector, called Z-Lab, able to detect the Influenza-A Virus (IAV). This bio-detector reached a Limit of Detection (LOD) of 15 ng/mL for the H1N1 virus, and a 125 TCID50/mL LOD for the purified H3N2 variant virus (H3N2v), with an overall assay time lower than 10 min ( Figure 2) (Wu et al, 2017(Wu et al, , 2020. The electronic section includes a microcontroller, a 24-bit codec, a Wheatstone Bridge for adjusting the offset on the carrier signal, a coil driver, and a USB and Bluetooth communication section.…”

“…The detection system includes three main components, namely the reader station, disposable Figure 1: Sandwich immunoassay mechanism of a GMR biosensor forming a capture antibodytarget antigen-detection antibody-MNP complex (Wu et al, 2020). Figure 2: Picture of the GMR-based hand-held device (a), and top view of the electronic section with highlighted the main components (b) (Wu et al, 2017(Wu et al, , 2020. sensing cartridge, and smartphone interface.…”

Cross-Validation of ELISA and a Portable Surface Plasmon Resonance Instrument for IgG Antibodies Serology with SARS-CoV-2 Positive Individuals

“…Various platforms have been proposed for detection of SARS-CoV-2-related genetic material or viral load and for protein/antibody sensing 23-25 26 , including nanophotonics 27 , magnetic 28 and electrochemical 29 sensors. Among them, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing is a label-free sensing technique 30 that is particularly sensitive for large biomolecules such as antibodies.…”