ROBOCOV: An affordable open-source robotic platform for SARS-CoV-2 testing by RT-qPCR
Preprint
- 11 June 2020
- preprint
- Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Abstract
Current global pandemic due to the SARS-CoV-2 has struggled and pushed the limits of global health systems. Supply chain disruptions and scarce availability of commercial laboratory reagents have motivated worldwide actors to search for alternative workflows to cope with the demand.We have used the OT-2 open-source liquid-handling robots (Opentrons, NY), RNA extraction and RT-qPCR reagents to set-up a reproducible workflow for RT-qPCR SARS-CoV-2 testing. We developed a framework with a template and several functions and classes that allow the creation of customized RT-qPCR automated circuits. As a proof of concept, we provide data obtained by a fully-functional tested code using the MagMax™ Pathogen RNA/DNA kit and the MagMax™ Viral/Pathogen II kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, MA) on the Kingfisher™ Flex instrument (Thermo Fisher Scientific, MA). With these codes available is easy to create new stations or circuits from scratch, adapt existing ones to changes in the experimental protocol, or perform fine adjustments to fulfil special needs.The affordability of this platform makes it accessible for most laboratories and hospitals with a bioinformatician, democratising automated SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing and increasing, temporarily or not, the capacity of carrying out tests. It also confers flexibility, as this platform is not dependant on any particular commercial kit and can be quickly adapted to protocol changes or other special needs.Keywords
This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit:
- Presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections and Transmission in a Skilled Nursing FacilityThe New England Journal of Medicine, 2020
- Asymptomatic Transmission, the Achilles’ Heel of Current Strategies to Control Covid-19The New England Journal of Medicine, 2020
- Leveraging open hardware to alleviate the burden of COVID-19 on global health systemsPLoS Biology, 2020
- In Vitro Diagnostic Assays for COVID-19: Recent Advances and Emerging TrendsDiagnostics, 2020
- Evaluation of a quantitative RT-PCR assay for the detection of the emerging coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 using a high throughput systemEurosurveillance, 2020
- A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in ChinaNature, 2020
- Molecular Diagnosis of a Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Causing an Outbreak of PneumoniaClinical Chemistry, 2020