AMES, Iowa – Researchers at Iowa State University are working on a mail-in COVID-19 test that would give quick results.
Residents would take a COVID-19 test at home, and then let it sit overnight before taking it to a collection center or mailing it in.
The test kit would cost about $1.00. It would require the person taking the test to gather nasal and cough samples and spread them on a card that would be stuffed into an envelope with a virus-killing coating to incubate overnight.
The unopened envelope would be scanned by an electronic reader once it's sent in to determine a positive or negative result, which would be emailed to the person who submitted the test.
Iowa State's been given a one-year, Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant of $200,000 from the National Science Foundation to develop the testing platform.
The effort's being headed by Nigel Reuel, an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at Iowa State University
“The driving motivation of this project,” Reuel said, “is to provide a faster response to enable widespread screening and tracking of an expanding viral outbreak.”