A fiber optic–nanophotonic approach to the detection of antibodies and viral particles of COVID-19

Abstract

Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator, told NBC News on “Meet the Press” that “[T]he U.S. needs a ‘breakthrough’ in coronavirus testing to help screen Americans and get a more accurate picture of the virus’ spread.” We have been involved with biopathogen detection since the 2001 anthrax attacks and were the first to detect anthrax in real-time. A variation on the laser spectroscopic techniques we developed for the rapid detection of anthrax can be applied to detect the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2 virus). In addition to detecting a single virus, this technique allows us to read its surface protein structure. In particular, we have been conducting research based on a variety of quantum optical approaches aimed at improving our ability to detect Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) viral infection. Indeed, the detection of a small concentration of antibodies, after an infection has passed, is a challenging problem. Likewise, the early detection of disease, even before a detectible antibody population has been established, is very important. Our team is researching both aspects of this problem. The paper is written to stimulate the interest of both physical and biological scientists in this important problem. It is thus written as a combination of tutorial (review) and future work (preview). We join Prof. Federico Capasso and Editor Dennis Couwenberg in expressing our appreciation to all those working so heroically on all aspects of the COVID-19 problem. And we thank Drs. Capasso and Couwenberg for their invitation to write this paper.

A Sensitive Biosensor Based on Plasmonic-Graphene Configuration for Detection of COVID-19 Virus

“…Many approaches were proposed for detecting the virus in infected people including different tests and sensors. Various biosensors for detecting COVID-19 were reported which indicated interesting results [ 2 , 3 ]. The optical biosensors can diagnose the COVID-19 very fast and with precise results.…”

Structured Light Control and Diagnostics Using Optical Crystals

“…The coronavirus macromolecules are of spherical shape of 100-140 nm in diameter, with an outer envelope bearing 20 nm-long club-shaped spike proteins [43]; in the visible wavelength range, their refractive index is 1.06, and they are optically anisotropic (the scattering indicatrix is polarization-dependent) [43]. Recent studies related to coronavirus identification in the blood have shown the possibility of various approaches to their investigation [44][45][46], among which the optical methods can be distinguished, including the fluorescence-based methods, employment of surface plasmons, plasmon-enhanced fluorescence, surface-enhancing Raman scattering, colorimetric biosensor methods [44,45], and approaches of fiber optics in the nanophotonic framework [46]. Such optical approaches enable detection of the immunoglobulin M and G antibodies or the SARS-CoV-2 molecules themselves.…”

Quantum optical immunoassay: upconversion nanoparticle-based neutralizing assay for COVID-19

“…It has been shown that using highly stable UCNPs could improve the limit of detection (LOD) of upconversion-linked immunosorbent assay (ULISA) by an order of magnitude compared to commercially available assays 30 , 31 . More sensitive optical readout can also improve the LOD in such bioassays 32 , 33 . These progressions toward single molecule detection are pushing the sensitivity, specificity, and LOD beyond what was once theoretically possible 34 – 36 .…”