紙製センサーで感染検査　新型コロナ、日仏共同開発へ

　東京大とフランス国立科学研究センターの研究チームは２４日までに、新型コロナウイルスに感染しているか、自分で簡単に検査できる紙製センサーの試作品を来年３月をめどに開発する方針を明らかにした。唾液を紙のセンサーに垂らし、スマートフォンで撮影するだけで、ウイルスの有無を判定できる製品の実現を目指している。
　東大生産技術研究所の南豪准教授は「紙を使うことで安価になり、使い捨てにできる」と話している。（2020/11/24-04:58）

A team of researchers from the University of Tokyo and the French National Center for Scientific Research has said it will develop by March next year a prototype paper sensor for detecting the new coronavirus.
   The team aims to ultimately develop a product that will allow people to find out whether they have contracted COVID-19 only by taking photographs of the paper sensors with their smartphones after placing their saliva drops on them.
   "By using paper, we can make the test kit disposable, not to mention cheaper," Tsuyoshi Minami, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science, said.
   The French side will develop microparticles that light up when combined with RNA of the new coronavirus. The surface of the microparticles will be covered with DNA that becomes bound only to the virus's RNA.
   As the possibility of the paper sensors giving false positive or false negative results may rise if there is only one kind of such test kit, the French researchers plan to come up with multiple kinds that employ different combinations of RNA and DNA sequences and microparticles glowing in various ways.