The gold standard for diagnostics of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus is based on real-time
polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using centralized PCR facilities and commercial viral RNA
extraction kits. One of the key components of these kits are magnetic beads composed of silica coated
magnetic iron oxide (Fe2O3 or Fe3O4) nanoparticles, needed for the selective extraction of RNA. At
the beginning of the pandemic in 2019, due to a high demand across the world there were severe
shortages of many reagents and consumables, including these magnetic beads required for testing for
SARS-CoV-2. Laboratories needed to source these products elsewhere, preferably at a comparable
or lower cost. Here, we describe the development of a simple, low-cost and scalable preparation of
magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) from biowaste and demonstrate their successful application in viral
RNA extraction and the detection of COVID-19. These MNPs have a unique nanoplatelet shape with
a high surface area, which are beneficial features, expected to provide improved RNA adsorption,
better dispersion and processing ability compared with commercial spherical magnetic beads. Their
performance in COVID-19 RNA extraction was evaluated in comparison with commercial magnetic
beads and the results presented here showed comparable results for high throughput PCR analysis.
The presented magnetic nanoplatelets generated from biomass waste are safe, low-cost, simple to
produce in large scale and could provide a significantly reduced cost of nucleic acid extraction for
SARS-CoV-2 and other DNA and RNA viruses.