Home Coronaviruses [Diagnostic] Diagnostic
Coronaviruses roadmap:
Diagnostic Tests

Roadmap for the development of diagnostic tests for coronaviruses

Download 202410 Draft Coronavirus Diagnostic Development_Final

1

Fit-for-purpose diagnostic tool

Diagnostic

Research Question

  • Development of rapid, reliable diagnostic test for detection of CoVs and CoV infections in animals including strains with zoonotic and/or pandemic potential and including pen-side tests

Research Gaps and Challenges

  • Detection and typing of different coronaviruses with different genome constellation
  • Commercial market of diagnostic tests
  • Detection of immune responses for different host species
  • Easy sampling for wildlife
  • Accessible costs
  • Utility/sensitivity of in-field diagnostic solution
  • Understand which coronaviruses are relevant and with zoonotic potential
  • Develop different type of diagnostic depending on the end user (e.g. government or farmers) and the aim ( e.g. Clinical Diagnostics vs. Surveillance- normal/healthy vs ill vs. recovered)
  • Pan coronavirus essays
  • Select the best matrix for non-invasive test to avoid licencing issues (e.g. aeresol or faeces)

Solution Routes

  • Development of Point of Care Test (POCT) panCoV tests for use in multiple host species (companion animals, agricultural/livestock and wildlife). Find the Agent (FTA) card to transport genome without cold chain, for coronaviruses this needs validation/accreditation
  • Lab-in-a suitcase PCR/nanopore sequencing
  • Development of bioinformatics pipelines from raw reads to report for short and long reads coronaviruses sequence analysis
  • Improved laboratory standard operation procedures (SOPs) sequencing CoV genomes
  • Testing for low resource settings that don’t require infrastructure
  • Metagenomic approach to virome/pathobiome could be utilised to characterise pathogens when the traditional diagnosis has not been reached
  • Co-design of tools with farmers/final users – consider end users
  • Rapid and cheap testing to distinguish lineages
  • Detection of antibodies in postmortem samples (wildlife)
  • POCTs with high specificity and sensitivity, possibly a multispecies lateral flow panCoV test for surveillance, followed up by lineage specific testing, either as advanced pen-side or laboratory tests

Dependencies

  • Policies that allow faster approval of new technologies across national borders
  • Flexible regulations/standards based on updated scientific evidence
  • Biobanking for coronaviruses
  • Capacity for quick scale up of products in emergencies
  • Overcome political and misuse challenges

State Of the Art