Tellurium polymers as mass-tags for the detection of COVID‑19 virus particles
In this new collaboration the Seferos group will team up with Fluidigm Canada to develop polymer mass tags for viruses including Covid-19. Fluidigm has developed mass-based detection and imaging methods that are some of the most sensitive platforms on the market. Their unique instrumentation is complimentary flow cytometry, since it is more specific and has the potential for greater multiplexing. The instruments rely on polymer ‘mass tags’ that are bound to antibodies. The mass tags deliver specific metals to the surfaces of cell, or in this case virus particles. the labeled cells are then delivered to an inductively coupled mass spectrometry and quantified. This has profound implications for the detection of novel diseases including Covid-19. In this project the Seferos group will utilized their expertise in tellurium polymer chemistry to develop new mass-based reagents for the detection of Covid-19.
