Evaluation of a field deployable, high-throughput RT-LAMP device as an early warning system for COVID-19 through SARS-CoV-2 measurements in wastewater.

Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA copies in wastewater can be used to estimate COVID-19 prevalence in communities. While such results are important for mitigating disease spread, SARS-CoV-2 measurements require sophisticated equipment and trained personnel, for which a centralized laboratory is necessary. This significantly impacts the time to result, defeating its purpose as an early warning detection tool. The objective of this study was to evaluate a field portable device (called MINI) for detecting SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in wastewater using real-time reverse transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification (real-time RT-LAMP). The device was tested using wastewater samples collected from buildings (with 430 to 1430 inhabitants) that had known COVID-19-positive cases. Results show comparable performance of RT-LAMP against reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) when detecting SARS-CoV-2 copies in wastewater. Both RT-LAMP and RT-qPCR detected SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater from buildings with at least three positive individuals within a 6-day time frame prior to diagnosis. The large 96-well throughput provided by MINI provided scalability to multi-building detection. The portability of the MINI device enabled decentralized on-site detection, significantly reducing the time to result. The overall findings support the use of RT-LAMP within the MINI configuration as an early detection system for COVID-19 infection using wastewater collected at the building scale.

Electromagnetic field components: their measurement using linear electrooptic and magnetooptic effects.

Vector components of alternating electric and magnetic fields can be measured with excellent sensitivity and time resolution using a laser system employing Pockels effect or Faraday effect materials as field sensors. This technique offers the advantages of being passive and remote; the sensor material requires no power source and can be interrogated by a remotely located laser transmitter and receiver with no connecting wires or electrodes. This paper analyzes the sensitivity of the electrooptic and magnetooptic methods and derives new figures of merit for materials used as sensors in these applications. Experiments evaluating the temperature coefficients of sensitivity and demonstrating that sensitivities of 0.06 V/cm and 0.5 G can be achieved easily are described.