KIMS, a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT jointly developed a plasmonic isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification(RPA) array chip with Samsung Medical Center. This is the world's first on-site PCR technology which can detect 8 pathogens(4 bacteria and 4 viruses) that cause acute respiratory infectious diseases in 30 minutes, led by Sung-gyu Park and Ho-sang Jung of the Korea Institute of Materials Science(KIMS, President Jung-hwan Lee) and by Min-young Lee and Ayoung Woo of Samsung Medical Center.

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The current detection technology for COVID-19 is impossible to analyze on-site as it takes about 4 hours or more to be confirmed after specimen collection, making it difficult to isolate the infectee as soon as possible. To solve the problem, the researchers combined isothermal PCR technology on a three-dimensional Au nano-substrate which can amplify the optical signal of a molecule particle and succeeded in the world's first respiratory pathogen detection in 30 minutes at 37°C.

The "multiplex diagnosis technology for acute respiratory infections" was also confirmed to be valid for clinical specimens collected by nasopharyngeal swabs. The team is planning to review the reliability of medical devices through large-scale clinical trials on COVID-19 infectees and applying for approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

The "3D optical amplification nano-materials technology" of KIMS has already been patented in Korea, the US, and China, and the "on-site rapid pathogen detection technology" has been applied for a domestic patent jointly with Samsung Medical Center. 

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