A Tiny Sensor In GE Development Could Enable Smartphones To Detect COVID-19 Coronavirus

A promising technology is arising in GE’s research labs. by Daniel Kruger & Dorothy Pomerantz @ ge.com

GE researchers are working on a sensor smaller than a fingertip that could find viruses and pathogens in the air. Led by Radislav Potyrailo, a principal scientist at GE Research in Niskayuna, New York, the team received a two-year research grant from the National Institutes of Health to build the tiny device.

The finished project will produce a microchip smaller than a dime with nanowells, or tiny pores, that can only be activated by a particular molecule — in this case, a molecule from the coronavirus causing COVID-19. “In each of those nanowells there are bioreceptors that are designed to recognize only the virus particle they were designed for,” Potyrailo says. “If some flu particle or pollen or bacterium appears, it won’t be recognized. It’s like a lock and key.”

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