Pandemics were top of mind for Jim Collins years before the new coronavirus emerged. In 2014, his bioengineering laboratory at MIT began developing sensors that could detect the Ebola virus when it was freeze-dried onto a piece of paper. The small team of scientists from MIT and Harvard first published their research in 2016; by then, they’d tailored the technology to address the growing threat of the Zika virus. Now, they’re adjusting their tool again to identify coronavirus cases.
