Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Division of Microbiology, Virology and Infection Control, BC Children's and Women's Hospital + Sunny Health Center, Vancouver, Canada.
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Sci Rep. 2023 Mar 14;13(1):4241. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-30993-2.
As part of the COVID-19 pandemic, clinical laboratories have been faced with massive increases in testing, resulting in sample collection systems, reagent, and staff shortages. We utilized self-collected saline gargle samples to optimize high throughput SARS-CoV-2 multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing in order to minimize cost and technologist time. This was achieved through elimination of nucleic acid extraction and automation of sample handling on a widely available robotic liquid handler, Hamilton STARlet. A customized barcode scanning script for reading the sample ID by the Hamilton STARlet's software system was developed to allow primary tube sampling. Use of pre-frozen SARS-CoV-2 assay reaction mixtures reduced assay setup time. In both validation and live testing, the assay produced no false positive or false negative results. Of the 1060 samples tested during validation, 3.6% (39/1060) of samples required retesting as they were either single gene positive, had internal control failure or liquid aspiration error. Although the overall turnaround time was only slightly faster in the automated workflow (185 min vs 200 min), there was a 76% reduction in hands-on time, potentially reducing staff fatigue and burnout. This described process from sample self-collection to automated direct PCR testing significantly reduces the total burden on healthcare systems in terms of human resources and reagent requirements.
在 COVID-19 大流行期间，临床实验室面临着检测量的大幅增加，导致样本采集系统、试剂和人员短缺。我们利用自行采集的盐水漱口样本，通过优化高通量 SARS-CoV-2 多重聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测，以最小化成本和技术人员的时间。这是通过消除核酸提取和在广泛可用的机器人液体处理机 Hamilton STARlet 上自动化样本处理来实现的。开发了一个自定义条形码扫描脚本，用于通过 Hamilton STARlet 的软件系统读取样本 ID，从而允许进行初级管采样。使用预先冷冻的 SARS-CoV-2 检测反应混合物可减少检测设置时间。在验证和实时测试中，该检测均未产生假阳性或假阴性结果。在验证过程中测试的 1060 个样本中，有 3.6%（39/1060）的样本需要重新检测，因为它们要么是单一基因阳性，要么是内部对照失败或液体抽吸错误。虽然自动化工作流程的总体周转时间仅略有加快（185 分钟与 200 分钟），但实际操作时间减少了 76%，这可能减轻了员工的疲劳和倦怠。从样本自我采集到自动化直接 PCR 检测的这个描述过程，大大减轻了医疗保健系统在人力资源和试剂需求方面的总体负担。
