Rice University develops 2 new innovative tools to detect COVID-19

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Friday, February 26, 2021
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HOUSTON, Texas -- Rice University is once again spearheading research and solutions in the ongoing battle with COVID-19. The "Ivy League of the South" school announced two developing innovations: a "real-time sensor" to detect the virus and a cellphone tool that can detect the disease in less than an hour.

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Sensing COVID-19

Researchers at Rice received funding for up to $1 million to develop the real-time sensor that promises to detect minute amounts of the airborne virus.

Teams at Rice and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston are working to develop a thin film electronic device that senses as few as eight SARS-CoV-2 viruses in 10 minutes of sampling air flowing at 8 liters per minute, per a press release.

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