SARS-CoV-2 pooled testing for students
The PAS Institute of Experimental Biology together with the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education plans to test medical students for the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in early October. Scientists will use a novel method developed within the SONAR Anti-CoronaVirus project. Thanks to screening tests they will determine how widespread the virus is in a given population.
To begin with, all students, who work in clinics and have contact with patients due to their academic activity, will be included in pooled testing for coronavirus. It will be screening test, which means that all medical students will be screened, whether they have symptoms of the disease or not.
The most commonly available PCR genetic tests, including the MediPAN test developed by PAS Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry in Poznań, will be used for pooling students samples. With just one test researchers can screen samples collected from 10 people, thereby saving time and money.
The group testing method was developed as part of the SONAR Anti-CoronaVirus project carried out by the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics of the University of Warsaw and laboratories of the National Sanitary Inspectorate and Medical University in Łódź.
