NIH
Florida Atlantic University Wins $1.3M NIH Grant to Develop Sample-to-Answer HIV Self-Test
The assay will be designed for self-testing and is expected to be sensitive enough to detect HIV during acute infection, treatment, and viral rebound.
Even before Omicron, rapid tests have had difficulty picking up SARS-CoV-2 at the earliest stages of infection, a gap in performance the new variant could exploit.
Antibody assays cannot be used for a SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis, but some evidence is emerging that they could eventually detect immunity from the infection.
NIH to Award $1M in Prizes for New Maternal Health Diagnostic Tests
Test prototypes submitted to an NIH competition should among other requirements guide rapid clinical decision-making and help prevent maternal morbidity and mortality.
While molecular testing will provide the definitive answer, analysis of the variant's mutations suggest most rapid antigen tests will still pick up the virus.