Silkworms in the face of "Corona"

Researchers from Kyushu University of Japan and a manufacturer of medical devices have developed a test for antibodies to the emerging "Corona" virus using silkworms.

Kyushu University is famous for its research on silkworms 100 years ago, as it revealed that a specific species among the 450 species of silkworms that were studied at the university could produce a protein used in the production of a possible vaccine for "Corona".

After the outbreak of the new Corona virus infection, university scientists succeeded in growing an industrial protein inside a silkworm, which has a similar composition to the protein on the surface of the Corona virus.

The companies used this protein to develop a toolkit to detect the presence of "Covid-19" antibodies in the blood.

Such a test requires that a small blood sample be sent by mail without visiting the medical institutions conducting the test.