One thing I looked into was obtaining fast antibody tests (basically strips of paper with some proteins and colloidal gold soaked into them). They’re “research use only” and hard to get your hands on if you’re in the US, but if you’re outside the US (or have a friend outside the US willing to help) it should be easier. They would make it dramatically easier and less error-prone to test, and they’d also test for binding against full COVID proteins directly (rather than the radvac peptides). If I were going to invest much more effort into this project, I’d try harder to obtain some—either find some international seller who doesn’t ask a lot of questions, or recruit a friend who lives outside the US and can get their hands on some.
Another thing I might try is buying a microcentrifuge. A really low-end minimal one costs under $200, so it wouldn’t increase the relative cost of the project too much. The main use would be to clean up the samples—i.e. it could remove most of the sticky crap from a nasal wash sample. If noise is coming from that sticky crap sticking in the plate, then removing it would help a lot. If.
Yet another thing I might try is getting a COVID ELISA kit. This has similar considerations to the fast antibody tests.
They’re “research use only” and hard to get your hands on if you’re in the US, but if you’re outside the US (or have a friend outside the US willing to help) it should be easier.
Do you have any thoughts on what you’d do differently to be more personally confident doing this again?
Good question.
One thing I looked into was obtaining fast antibody tests (basically strips of paper with some proteins and colloidal gold soaked into them). They’re “research use only” and hard to get your hands on if you’re in the US, but if you’re outside the US (or have a friend outside the US willing to help) it should be easier. They would make it dramatically easier and less error-prone to test, and they’d also test for binding against full COVID proteins directly (rather than the radvac peptides). If I were going to invest much more effort into this project, I’d try harder to obtain some—either find some international seller who doesn’t ask a lot of questions, or recruit a friend who lives outside the US and can get their hands on some.
Another thing I might try is buying a microcentrifuge. A really low-end minimal one costs under $200, so it wouldn’t increase the relative cost of the project too much. The main use would be to clean up the samples—i.e. it could remove most of the sticky crap from a nasal wash sample. If noise is coming from that sticky crap sticking in the plate, then removing it would help a lot. If.
Yet another thing I might try is getting a COVID ELISA kit. This has similar considerations to the fast antibody tests.
I’m willing to help.