TY - JOUR

T1 - Mobile SARS‑CoV‑2 screening facilities for rapid deployment and university‐based diagnostic laboratory

AU - Stanislawski, Nils

AU - Lange, Ferdinand

AU - Fahnemann, Christian

AU - Riggers, Christoph

AU - Wahalla, Marc‐Nils

AU - Porr, Marc

AU - Cholewa, Fabian

AU - Jonczyk, Rebecca

AU - Thoms, Stefanie

AU - Witt, Martin

AU - Stahl, Frank

AU - Beutel, Sascha

AU - Winkel, Andreas

AU - Pott, Philipp‐Cornelius

AU - Stiesch, Meike

AU - Paulsen, Mira

AU - Melk, Anette

AU - Lucas, Henning

AU - Heiden, Stefanie

AU - Blume, Holger

AU - Blume, Cornelia

N1 - Funding Information: The project group would like to thank Dr. Corinna Hauß (MVZ Labor Limbach Hannover GbR) and Dipl.‐Ing. Jan Vöckler for their support and advice. We further thank several PhD students at the Institutes for Technical Chemistry and Microelectronic Systems (Leibniz University Hannover, Germany) for intense work on both PCR and antibody testing and technical and organizational support in this project. Furthermore, we thank the medical and dental students from the Medical School Hannover (MHH) and the University of Göttingen for their help registering subjects and taking swabs. We thank Prof. Dr. Nils Hoppe and his team for their support of the study´s ethical vote and procedures concerning data protection (Centre of Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences, Leibniz University, Hannover, Germany). The authors are especially grateful to Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheper, whose idea gave the decisive impulse for this project. This project has been partially funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Employment, Transport and Digitalization of Lower Saxony, Germany, and the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, Germany. The funding sources had no role in the design and conduct of the project or related studies, data collection, management, analysis or interpretation; or writing of this article.

PY - 2023/2/2

Y1 - 2023/2/2

N2 - The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has created a public crisis. Many medical and public institutions and businesses went into isolation in response to the pandemic. Because SARS-CoV-2 can spread irrespective of a patient's course of disease, these institutions’ continued operation or reopening based on the assessment and control of virus spread can be supported by targeted population screening. For this purpose, virus testing in the form of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis and antibody detection in blood can be central. Mobile SARS-CoV-2 screening facilities with a built-in biosafety level (BSL)-2 laboratory were set up to allow the testing offer to be brought close to the subject group's workplace. University staff members, their expertise, and already available equipment were used to implement and operate the screening facilities and a certified diagnostic laboratory. This operation also included specimen collection, transport, PCR and antibody analysis, and informing subjects as well as public health departments. Screening facilities were established at different locations such as educational institutions, nursing homes, and companies providing critical supply chains for health care. Less than 4 weeks after the first imposed lockdown in Germany, a first mobile testing station was established featuring a build-in laboratory with two similar stations commencing operation until June 2020. During the 15-month project period, approximately 33,000 PCR tests and close to 7000 antibody detection tests were collected and analyzed. The presented approach describes the required procedures that enabled the screening facilities and laboratories to collect and process several hundred specimens each day under difficult conditions. This report can assist others in establishing similar setups for pandemic scenarios.

AB - The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has created a public crisis. Many medical and public institutions and businesses went into isolation in response to the pandemic. Because SARS-CoV-2 can spread irrespective of a patient's course of disease, these institutions’ continued operation or reopening based on the assessment and control of virus spread can be supported by targeted population screening. For this purpose, virus testing in the form of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis and antibody detection in blood can be central. Mobile SARS-CoV-2 screening facilities with a built-in biosafety level (BSL)-2 laboratory were set up to allow the testing offer to be brought close to the subject group's workplace. University staff members, their expertise, and already available equipment were used to implement and operate the screening facilities and a certified diagnostic laboratory. This operation also included specimen collection, transport, PCR and antibody analysis, and informing subjects as well as public health departments. Screening facilities were established at different locations such as educational institutions, nursing homes, and companies providing critical supply chains for health care. Less than 4 weeks after the first imposed lockdown in Germany, a first mobile testing station was established featuring a build-in laboratory with two similar stations commencing operation until June 2020. During the 15-month project period, approximately 33,000 PCR tests and close to 7000 antibody detection tests were collected and analyzed. The presented approach describes the required procedures that enabled the screening facilities and laboratories to collect and process several hundred specimens each day under difficult conditions. This report can assist others in establishing similar setups for pandemic scenarios.

KW - COVID-19

KW - HIS & LIMS

KW - PCR

KW - SARS-CoV-2

KW - screening

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85145458506&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/elsc.202200026

DO - 10.1002/elsc.202200026

M3 - Article

VL - 23

JO - Engineering in life sciences

JF - Engineering in life sciences

SN - 1618-0240

IS - 2

M1 - 2200026

ER -