Sensor detects only infectious viruses

By decorating tiny nanopores with short DNA strands called aptamers, researchers have created a sensor that distinguishes between infectious and noninfectious viruses ( Sci. Adv. 2021, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abh2848 ). The device can detect a model virus that mimics SARS-CoV-2, for example, with a sensitivity close to the best conventional diagnostics. The gold standard method for detecting viruses is based on reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). But it tends to be time consuming and expensive, and its high sensitivity can also be an Achilles' heel. That's because RT-PCR can pick up genetic material in dead viral debris that may linger in patients for weeks after an infection. In the current pandemic, that means some people are flagged as COVID-19 positive when they are no longer infectious. "We really need a rapid method to tell people not only if they have a virus but whether that virus is infectious or not,"