Currently, the PCR test, which is the mainstream of the new coronavirus test, has a problem in the speed and accuracy of the test, and is a big hurdle in the immediate diagnosis at the clinical site and the large-scale screening test.Under these circumstances, the Osaka University group has developed "AI Nanopore Technology" that identifies one virus at high speed and with high accuracy, and can diagnose the new coronavirus with sensitivity and specificity of 1% or more by measuring saliva for 5 minutes. Succeeded in establishing the inspection method.
This inspection method uses an innovative fusion technology of nanotechnology and AI, which is a combination of nanopores, which are through holes filled with electrolytes, and AI technology.By measuring the ionic current flowing through the nanopore and machine learning the current waveform by AI, one virus property is electrically read and identified at high speed and with high accuracy.
This AI nanopore technology can identify cultured SARS, MERS, SARS-2, and 229E coronaviruses with high accuracy, and only by measuring saliva samples for 5 minutes, the sensitivity of positive and negative is 90% and specificity. Proven to be inspected at 96%. At Senbatsu High School Baseball in the spring of 2021, when a large-scale field test using this test method was conducted, a 100% concordance rate with the PCR test was achieved.
In addition, it is said that it has succeeded in highly accurate discrimination between the new coronavirus and influenza virus type A, and it is possible to quickly construct a new pathogen detection method by learning different viruses by AI.This test method is expected to be applied to immediate diagnosis and screening tests as a new type of coronavirus test method that satisfies both speed and accuracy, and AI nanopore technology is also very useful in responding to emerging infectious diseases that may occur in the future. It shows that there is.
Paper information:[Nature Communications] Combining machine learning and nanopore construction creates an artificial intelligence nanopore for coronavirus detection
