Clinical research on COVID-19 has boomed in the 18 months since the disease first appeared. Countless papers have looked at the topic from almost every possible angle, including methods of detection.
For a new paper published in the journal Clinical Microbiology Reviews, a team of researchers led by Concordia engineers sifted through hundreds of papers on COVID-19 detection tools and technologies. They wanted to categorize and understand what exists, what is lacking and what can be improved. The result is a thorough assessment of the field citing almost 600 separate papers that cover an extensive body of literature.
“The upsurge of publications and new technologies in a very short time made it very difficult to follow for anyone interested in the topic,” says the study’s primary investigator and lead author Hamid Tali, a PhD student in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering.
“Our study looks at these technologies’ performance characteristics, their challenges and the gaps in our current knowledge and future directions. We describe the lessons learned throughout the pandemic on the diagnostics of this virus, which will be helpful in the case of a future pandemic.”
The authors believe that the paper provides a rich “one-stop shop” resource for people interested in the topic, including experts in clinical microbiology and non-experts who want to know more about different methods.
“Having such a comprehensive review on this gigantic subject in a single place is of great value as it will significantly save time from researchers. It will help them grasp the state-of-the-art technologies in this area as fast as possible, get inspired and directed about current challenges and better define their research objectives,” Tali adds.
Sana Anbuhi, an assistant professor of chemical and materials engineering, is the paper’s senior author. She and Jason LeBlanc of Dalhousie University are the corresponding authors. Zubi Sadiq and Oyejide Oyewunmi of Concordia and Carolina Camargo, Bahareh Nikpour, Narges Armanfard and Selena Sagan of McGill University are co-authors.