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Optimize COVID-19 Sample Accessioning and Processing Workflows

Discover what labs have learned since the beginning of the pandemic to optimize your lab's COVID-19 workflows

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Today's Clinical Lab

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Published:Jan 27, 2021
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As of January 21, 2021, clinical lab professionals have processed 276 million COVID-19 tests in the US. But as case numbers continue to rise, clinical labs will have to continue to find new and better ways to improve sample accessioning and processing workflows to meet increasing demand. Read more to discover how you can use what labs have learned since the beginning of the pandemic to optimize your workflows.


1. Improving COVID-19 Sample Acquisition

Because SARS-CoV-2 is a novel virus, labs across the country pivoted to focus on COVID-19, adapting existing sample accessioning and processing workflows to keep pace with the unprecedented demand for testing without sacrificing accuracy. 

In this e-book, Nischay Mishra, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology and infectious disease diagnostic developer at the Center for Infection and Immunity at the Columbia University Medical Center, provides key insights about how to improve SARS-CoV-2 testing workflows.


2. Overcoming the Challenges of Working with RNA

SARS-CoV-2, is a single-stranded RNA virus, which means the key to successful SARS-CoV-2 detection relies on the purification of viral RNA from patient samples. 

sbeadexTM viral RNA purification kits use superparamagnetic particles to successfully purify viral RNA from nasopharyngeal swabs and sputum samples for RT-qPCR applications. The protocol can also be automated for high-throughput processing. To learn more about how to use sbeadexTM for COVID-19 RNA purification,  download this application note


3. Optimizing Your RT-qPCR for SARS-CoV-2 Detection

By combining EpiScriptTM RNase H- Reverse Transcriptase and RapiDxFireTM qPCR 5X Master Mix GF, you can create an effective one-step SARS-CoV-2 detection system.

This system can accurately define a reproducible analytical limit of detection (LoD) below 100 copies per reaction for both of the CDC-validated N1 and N2 SARS-CoV-2 specific targets.

Download this application note to learn how to combine reagents from LGC, Biosearch TechnologiesTM for detection and characterization of SARS-CoV-2.