Date and time of release: 24 September 2021, 15:00

24 September 2021
Press release
Ball Wave Inc.
Tohoku University
Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

Ball Wave, Tohoku University, and Toyoda Gosei in joint development of high-speed
COVID-19 sensor:
Aiming for direct detection of viruses in aerosols
Key points of the announcement• Ball Wave Inc. (Head office: Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture; CEO: Dr. Shingo Akao),
has been working together with Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine andToyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Kiyosu City, Aichi Prefecture; President: ToruKoyama) on research to verify the principles of the ball surface acoustic wave (SAW)
virus sensor.
• This joint development establishes a new principle of virus concentration measurement
within a short period of time—just a few seconds—by capturing airborne viruses present
in aerosols using antibodies and aptamers.1 The goal is to develop the fastest virus
sensor ever.
• Proteins specific to the SARS-Cov-2 contained in aerosols generated in experiments
were detected within 1 minute.
• Our aim is to develop not only diagnostic equipment that can detect viruses in theexhaled breath of patients, but also equipment for monitoring viruses in the air inrestaurants, on public transport, at facilities with large crowds, and in the home. In thefuture, it may be possible to develop systems in which a virus sensor is mounted on
Internet of Things devices, allowing the spread of viruses to be visualized in real time.
Overview
The COVID-19 virus is believed to infect people through aerosols, but methods andequipment capable of detecting the concentration of airborne viruses in real time (a gasphase virus sensor) have yet to be developed. The simplest test method currently in use
for rapid detection of newly infected patients is the immunochromatographic antigen test
kit, but this test takes more than 15 minutes to complete. This presents a major challenge
in the ongoing fight against the spread of COVID-19 infection (Fig. 1).

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(a) Medical(b) Immigration

institutions

inspection(d) Public transport(c) Facilities with large

crowdsFigure 1. Examplesof environments where virus sensors/detection methods are an importantpart of infectious disease control

Aerosols released into the air when people talk or cough travel rapidly through spacewith a speed of several tens of centimeters per second. If a sensor is located within adistance of 1 m from an infected person, the aerosol will reach the sensor within 10 s.
Viruses in the aerosol remain on the sensor surface, coated in water. Ball Wave deviseda sensor using the ball SAW sensor,2 which is its proprietary technology—antibodies or
aptamers are fixed to the surface of the ball SAW sensor, and these react with the spike
protein of the captured virus (Fig. 2). The reaction time of the sensor is less than 10 s,
and the sensor is expected to be able to detect viruses with high sensitivity as theinnovative principle of the ball SAW sensor amplifies even very small responses tominute viruses. The joint development will be carried out by combining the surface
treatment technology cultivated by Toyoda Gosei through its development of car interiorand exterior parts with Tohoku University’s expertise in breathomics,3 a high-precision
diagnostic method that uses mass spectrometry to detect viruses and inflammatory
proteins in exhaled air.

2Crystal Ball

antibodies

aerosolelectrodes

Figure 2. Sensor that captures viruses through the antigen-antibody reaction using water in
the aerosol

In addition to the challenges associated with the current COVID-19 pandemic, society
may face other pandemics in the future. Our aim is to provide the ball SAW sensor topeople all over the world as soon as possible, enabling detection of viruses inenvironmental air and non-invasive, rapid virus testing.
Explanation of terms
1. Aptamer: A nucleic acid molecule that specifically binds to a specific foreign substancesuch as a cell or protein and inhibits its function. Aptamers have a similar function toantibodies, but they are thermally and chemically stabler than antibodies, and release
antigens when the temperature is raised for reuse.
2. Ball SAW sensor: A sensor that uses surface acoustic waves (SAWs), which areconcentrated on the surface of a sphere and repeatedly circle around it without spreading ina lateral direction. The ball SAW sensor was developed by Emeritus Professor Yamanaka
and at Tohoku University Graduate School of Engineering and collaborators.
3. Breathomics: A method in which exhaled air is collected from a subject so that viral proteinsand genomes, inflammatory mediators, and energy metabolites present in the aerosol canbe efficiently and safely collected for automated, high-speed, and ultra-sensitive analysis. It
was developed by Professor Akaike and his colleagues at Tohoku University Graduate
School of Medicine.
3Contact:
Ball Wave Inc.
Administration Department
Tel：022-302-6659
E-mail：mori*ballwave.jp (replace * with @)Tohoku University School of Medicine Public Relations Office
Tel：022-717-8032
E-mail： press*pr.med.tohoku.ac.jp (replace * with @)Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.
Public Relations Department, General Affairs Division
Tel：052-400-1452

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