Optimized and scalable synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles for RNA extraction in response to developing countries' needs in the detection and control of SARS-CoV-2

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 19004
• Main Authors: Chacón-Torres, Julio C., Reinoso, C., Navas-León, Daniela G., Briceño, Sarah, González, Gema
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 04-11-2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/925/357/354; 639/925/357/551; Clinical Laboratory Techniques - methods; Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis; Coronaviruses; Costs and Cost Analysis; COVID-19; COVID-19 Testing; COVID-19 Vaccines; Developing Countries; Economic crisis; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; LDCs; Magnetite Nanoparticles - chemistry; Magnetite Nanoparticles - economics; multidisciplinary; Nanoparticles; Polymerase chain reaction; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction - economics; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA, Viral - chemistry; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-75798-9

Ecuador is one of the most affected countries, with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, in Latin America derived from an ongoing economic crisis. One of the most important methods for COVID-19 detection is the use of techniques such as real time RT-PCR based on a previous extraction/purification of RNA procedure from nasopharyngeal cells using functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (MNP). This technique allows the processing of ~ 10,000 tests per day in private companies and around hundreds per day at local Universities guaranteeing to reach a wide range of the population. However, the main drawback of this method is the need for specialized MNP with a strong negative charge for the viral RNA extraction to detect the existence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Here we present a simplified low cost method to produce 10 g of nanoparticles in 100 mL of solution that was scaled to one litter by parallelizing the process 10 times in just two days and allowing for the possibility of making ~ 50,000 COVID-19 tests. This communication helps in reducing the cost of acquiring MNP for diverse biomolecular applications supporting developing country budgets constraints and chemical availability specially during the COVID-19 International Health Emergency.