biostudies-literatureUnknown1205Lopez-Valls MInstituto de Salud Carlos IIIMinisterio de Economía y CompetitividadThe COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the need for fast and sensitive detection methods to prevent the spread of pathogens. The scientific community is making a great effort to design new molecular detection methods suitable for fast point-of-care applications. In this regard, a variety of approaches have been developed or optimized, including isothermal amplification of viral nucleic acids, CRISPR-mediated target recognition, and read-out systems based on nanomaterials. Herein, we present CASCADE (CRISPR/CAS-based Colorimetric nucleic Acid DEtection), a sensing system for fast and specific naked-eye detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. In this approach, viral RNA is recognized by the LwaCas13a CRISPR protein, which activates its collateral RNase activity. Upon target recognition, Cas13a cleaAnalytica chimica acta339749https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC8939626biostudies-literatureCASCADE: Naked eye-detection of SARS-CoV-2 using Cas13a and gold nanoparticles.PMC8939626Castellanos MLopez-Valls MRodriguez-Diaz CCanton RColoma RAbreu MMiranda RSomoza AMartinez-Garay CEscalona-Noguero CMilan-Rois PPardo DGalan JCSot BfalseCASCADE: Naked eye-detection of SARS-CoV-2 using Cas13a and gold nanoparticles.The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the need for fast and sensitive detection methods to prevent the spread of pathogens. The scientific community is making a great effort to design new molecular detection methods suitable for fast point-of-care applications. In this regard, a variety of approaches have been developed or optimized, including isothermal amplification of viral nucleic acids, CRISPR-mediated target recognition, and read-out systems based on nanomaterials. Herein, we present CASCADE (CRISPR/CAS-based Colorimetric nucleic Acid DEtection), a sensing system for fast and specific naked-eye detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. In this approach, viral RNA is recognized by the LwaCas13a CRISPR protein, which activates its collateral RNase activity. Upon target recognition, Cas13a clea2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 May2025-04-26T04:40:34.889Z2025-04-06T11:13:01.457ZS-EPMC89396263541439810.1016/j.aca.2022.339749