Photo/Illutration Takeshi Yasui in Tokushima on May 25 (Photo by Takashi Azuma)

TOKUSHIMA--New technology using next-generation lasers can detect the novel coronavirus in patients faster than standard methods, a research institute based here said.

“The new method allows the virus to be detected and diagnosed at a very early stage before a state of total infection,” said Takeshi Yasui, a professor who heads the Tokushima University Institute of Post-LED Photonics.

Officials of the pLED institute, which studies subjects related to light, said Sept. 26 the method is less sensitive than polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing but more sensitive than commonly practiced antigen and antibody testing methods.

The laser technology detects novel coronavirus faster than the other methods.

PLED Institute researchers jointly conducted the study with colleagues from the Kochi University of Technology and the Tokushima University graduate school.

The scientists used “biosensors” to detect target molecules by drawing on a mechanism in which enzymes and antibodies react to specific molecules alone.

The technology is already used in fields such as medicine and the environment, but scientists have not yet been able to combine high sensitivity with speed.

The researchers chose to use next-generation lasers called optical frequency combs, which were featured in the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics, as sensors rather than light sources. That has helped resolve the challenge, the officials said.

Yasui said it takes two to three hours for standard PCR testing to detect the COVID-19 virus because it involves the time-consuming process of gene amplification. But a device using the new method will achieve the same results in up to 10 minutes.

It will also allow early detection of food contaminants, endocrine disrupters and other substances, the professor added.

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