Technological Development of a Multipurpose Molecular Point-of-Care Device for Sars-Cov-2 Detection

The present work describes the technological development of a low-cost and miniaturized instrument to Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for detection of Sars-CoV-2 ribonucleic acid (RNA) and, potentially, an open platform for detection of other microorganisms. Most devices use a big aluminum bar coupled to a peltier to heat and cool the reaction tube; however, a lot of energy is wasted in the process. To take advantage of the energy and reduce cost–benefit of the device, we introduced the Joule Effect in the printed circuit board for heating samples, and a computer fan for cooling. Other improvements such as a precise heating sample spot, and a LM35 thermal sensor with a PID (proportional integral-derivative) algorithm to control the circuit temperature, have also been included. The processes were carried out based on cost–benefit and performance to bring to the market a robust detection platform for in vitro diagnostic tests.