TY - JOUR
T1 - Reliable and Scalable SARS-CoV-2 qPCR Testing at a High Sample Throughput
T2 - Lessons Learned from the Belgian Initiative
AU - Van Vooren, Steven
AU - Grayson, James
AU - Van Ranst, Marc
AU - Dequeker, Elisabeth
AU - Laenen, Lies
AU - Janssen, Reile
AU - Gillet, Laurent
AU - Bureau, Fabrice
AU - Coppieters, Wouter
AU - Devos, Nathalie
AU - Hengchen, Benjamin
AU - Wattiau, Pierre
AU - Méhauden, Sibylle
AU - Verlinden, Yvan
AU - Van Baelen, Kurt
AU - Pattery, Theresa
AU - Valentin, Jean Pierre
AU - Janssen, Kris
AU - Geraerts, Martine
AU - Smeraglia, John
AU - Hellemans, Jan
AU - Wytynck, Pieter
AU - Mestdagh, Pieter
AU - Besbrugge, Nienke
AU - Höfer, René
AU - Nollet, Friedel
AU - Vandesompele, Jo
AU - De Smet, Pieter
AU - Lebon, John
AU - Vandewynckele, Emmanuel
AU - Verstrepen, Steven
AU - Uten, Wouter
AU - Capron, Arnaud
AU - Malonne, Hugues
AU - Poels, Jeroen
AU - André, Emmanuel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - We present our approach to rapidly establishing a standardized, multi-site, nation-wide COVID-19 screening program in Belgium. Under auspices of a federal government Task Force responsible for upscaling the country’s testing capacity, we were able to set up a national testing initiative with readily available resources, putting in place a robust, validated, high-throughput, and decentralized qPCR molecular testing platform with embedded proficiency testing. We demonstrate how during an acute scarcity of equipment, kits, reagents, personnel, protective equipment, and sterile plastic supplies, we introduced an approach to rapidly build a reliable, validated, high-volume, highconfidence workflow based on heterogeneous instrumentation and diverse assays, assay components, and protocols. The workflow was set up with continuous quality control monitoring, tied together through a clinical-grade information management platform for automated data analysis, real-time result reporting across different participating sites, qc monitoring, and making result data available to the requesting physician and the patient. In this overview, we address challenges in optimizing high-throughput cross-laboratory workflows with minimal manual intervention through software, instrument and assay validation and standardization, and a process for harmonized result reporting and nation-level infection statistics monitoring across the disparate testing methodologies and workflows, necessitated by a rapid scale-up as a response to the pandemic.
AB - We present our approach to rapidly establishing a standardized, multi-site, nation-wide COVID-19 screening program in Belgium. Under auspices of a federal government Task Force responsible for upscaling the country’s testing capacity, we were able to set up a national testing initiative with readily available resources, putting in place a robust, validated, high-throughput, and decentralized qPCR molecular testing platform with embedded proficiency testing. We demonstrate how during an acute scarcity of equipment, kits, reagents, personnel, protective equipment, and sterile plastic supplies, we introduced an approach to rapidly build a reliable, validated, high-volume, highconfidence workflow based on heterogeneous instrumentation and diverse assays, assay components, and protocols. The workflow was set up with continuous quality control monitoring, tied together through a clinical-grade information management platform for automated data analysis, real-time result reporting across different participating sites, qc monitoring, and making result data available to the requesting physician and the patient. In this overview, we address challenges in optimizing high-throughput cross-laboratory workflows with minimal manual intervention through software, instrument and assay validation and standardization, and a process for harmonized result reporting and nation-level infection statistics monitoring across the disparate testing methodologies and workflows, necessitated by a rapid scale-up as a response to the pandemic.
KW - Data analysis
KW - High-throughput testing
KW - Lab automation
KW - Qc monitoring
KW - QPCR
KW - SARS-CoV-2
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123982672&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/life12020159
DO - 10.3390/life12020159
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85123982672
SN - 2075-1729
VL - 12
JO - Life
JF - Life
IS - 2
M1 - 159
ER -