Anirban Das

The need for population-wide, rapid, sensitive, and price-effective diagnostic testing has substantially accelerated due to the severe acute breathing syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19). Large-scale testing is important to efficiently control infections and minimize their effect on the economy and public health. In a study recently posted in the journal Small, the authors provide a review on both micro-and nanoscale technologies that are the superior diagnosis of viral infections.

Some of the key benefits related to micro-and nanoscale technologies consist of miniaturization, automation, practicality, and user-friendly nature. This technology regularly makes use of low-cost microfluidic channels with a high surface-to-volume ratio and minimum volume requirements, thus decreasing the consumption of samples and high-priced reagents. Micro- and nanoscale technology are price-powerful answers which might be able to diagnose viral infection. To date, micro-and nanoscale technology had been used to enhance all aspects of the viral disease diagnostic processes. This consists of sampling, sample processing, recognition, enrichment, detection methods. Some of the different techniques which have been employed to provide easy-to-use and low-cost microfluidic devices consist of micromachining, computer numerical control milling, soft lithography, and carbon dioxide (CO2) laser cutting. Two- dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) printing methods have also been used to speed up the manufacturing of various viral diagnostic devices. Importantly, 3D printing may be combined with different traditional manufacturing techniques, which include machining, milling, and lithography, in an effort to fabricate complex devices. Additional fabrication techniques that were mentioned for their utility in generating micro-and nanoscale systems for viral diagnostic purposes consist of screen printing, xurography, and lab-on-printed circuit board (PCB).

Overall, both micro and nanotechnologies have increasingly developing roles in viral diagnostic processes. The clinical validation and optimization of those technologies are still had to improve their incorporation into each research to clinical applications.

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