Within the framework of a contract signed on June 11, 2020 with the City of Paris, Bertin Instruments is industrializing a new Covid-19 screening test.
The École supérieure de physique chimie industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI) and the Institut Pasteur, with the help of a grant from the City of Paris, have been working for several months on the COVIDISC project, a micro-fluidic screening test for infectious diseases adapted to Covid-19. Already tested on other types of virus such as Zika or dengue fever, this portable device, with a simple and inexpensive instruments that can be stored at room temperature, will make it possible to carry out reliable tests in less than an hour.
Microfluidics (the science of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a small scale) represents a real scientific breakthrough, replacing PCR tests based on 37-year-old technology.
The COVIDISC takes the shape of a small box in which membranes are inserted to receive the sample to be analyzed. The extraction and amplification of DNA taken from a person using a swab will be done directly on the disc using a small instrument that also allows the result to be rendered.
The Bertin Instruments teams are currently preparing the prototyping of the test and its reader and will accompany its large-scale production.