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05.11.2020

The testing technology of the future: 36,000 samples in one night

A new method developed by researchers of the Vienna BioCenter, SARSeq, will allow testing of thousands of samples for SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in just 15 to 24 hours. One area of application could be the monitoring of large groups of people, for example in companies, tested at regular intervals.

One of the most important tools in the fight against the corona pandemic is testing for the presence of the virus. Scientists around the world are working on developing novel methods, in addition to conventional PCR tests, that are more suitable for specific applications.
Ulrich Elling from IMBA – Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences – together with Luisa Cochella and Alexander Stark from the neighboring Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) have now developed an additional method that could enable large groups to be tested for SARS-CoV-2, as well as other infections such as influenza, with high throughput and a turnaround time of one day.
"In Austria about 20,000 tests are currently carried out every day, and we could easily double that with our test procedure," explains Elling. The research team has now presented the new method on the preprint server medRxiv.

Read the entire story on the Vienna BioCenter website

Link to the publication on medRxiv