RAPID: Point-of-Need Detection of COVID-19 using CRISPR-Enabled Cell-Free Synthetic Biology

The COVID-19 pandemic and public health emergency highlights a current limitation of laboratory-based testing: it does not scale with a sudden and dramatic increase in volume. These laboratory tests, often based on quantitative PCR, require equipment and expertise to operate and analyze, necessitating significant infrastructure concentrated at hospitals and testing facilities. In times of crises, this creates severe logistical challenges and has resulted in inadequate testing to monitor and control the pandemic. In addition, localized infrastructure also places an enormous burden on healthcare facilities and puts frontline workers at risk. Thus, there is a need for diagnostic technologies that can be rapidly deployed at the point-of-need to enable high-resolution surveillance of infectious diseases.