Professors at Auburn University are set to receive a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation that will partially fund development of a device that can instantly sense COVID-19 in infected patients.

According to a release from the university, the device being developed would be “an inexpensive, near-real-time, point-of-care diagnostic device that would meet the need to more quickly and more conveniently diagnose COVID-19 and understand its spread.”

The device is being worked on by Auburn professors Pengyu Chen and Robert Pantazes, with help from professor Henry Beckman at the University of Texas.

“My lab has a long history in developing nanomaterial-based biosensors for immune detection,” said Chen in a statement released by Auburn.

U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) praised the grant, saying, “Proud to see [National Science Foundation] investing in our efforts to combat this disease & prevent it from spreading.”

.@NSF awarded @AuburnU $200K to identify & validate antibodies to be used in #COVID19 biosensor devices. Proud to see #NSF investing in our efforts to combat this disease & prevent it from spreading. https://t.co/RgwfaO5UHq

— Richard Shelby (@SenShelby) April 23, 2020

“The academic research community is working rapidly to reduce the impact that this pandemic has on our daily way of life,” Pantazes remarked.

Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95