A Self-Contained COVID-19 Test with 3-D Printed Parts

The makers of the CRISPR-based testing platform, called miSHERLOCK, say it could enable people at home or physicians in resource-limited environments to detect SARS-CoV-2—and eventually, other pathogens.

Written byAnnie Melchor

| 7 min read

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ABOVE: The miSHERLOCK device glows brightly if a saliva sample contains SARS-CoV-2 RNA.
WYSS INSTITUTE AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have been striving to develop low-cost tests to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in patient samples. Now, a team of researchers based at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute and MIT have unveiled a quick and inexpensive testing platform capable of distinguishing between major SARS-CoV-2 variants, according to a paper published Friday (August 6) in Science Advances.

The platform, called miSHERLOCK (pronounced “my-sherlock”), is fully self-contained from sample preparation to test readout. It requires no external equipment or instruments, and is eventually meant to be constructed by the user from 3-D printable parts and battery-powered electronics. The team was led by biomedical engineer James Collins, who is also cofounder and director of Sherlock Biosciences, a firm built around the CRISPR-based diagnostic tool called SHERLOCK which the ...

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Meet the Author

Annie Melchor
Stephanie "Annie" Melchor got her PhD from the University of Virginia in 2020, studying how the immune response to the parasite Toxoplasma gondii leads to muscle wasting and tissue scarring in mice. While she is still an ardent immunology fangirl, she left the bench to become a science writer and received her master’s degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 2021. You can check out more of her work here.
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