The biopharmaceutical company Hoth Therapeutics, Inc. announced on September 21 that it has entered into a Sponsored Research Agreement with GW to develop an in vitro diagnostic device that has the potential for testing by patients anywhere to allow public health professionals to immediately detect SARS-CoV-2 via a mobile device as an aid in the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. Dr. Mona Zaghloul, the principal investigator on the project, and her former doctoral student developed the design of the device, based on prior work of other former students, in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to detect and distinguish different species of gas. Dr. Jeanne Jordan, in GW’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, was instrumental in recognizing the potential diagnostic capabilities of the technology.
The research team’s goal is to develop an in-home testing device for COVID-19 that would be available to any person who would like to test. The team anticipates that the results will be available less than an hour from taking the test. The results would be available for public health professionals and would assist them with contact tracing.