CONTAIN – Mobile COVID19 Emergency Testing Facilities

Mobile COVID19 Emergency Testing Facilities

CONTAIN a decentralized and open-source approach for testing COVID19. OpenCell has developed mobile COVID19 testing labs that can be placed at any location needed. Each container is equipped with 5 liquid handling robots and 2 qPCR machines and can provide results in as little as 5 hours. A single lab can be run by a single operator and can process 2,400 tests a day.

The testing involves a procedure called reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). In short, it involves extracting viral RNA from a sample and amplifying it to a measurable level so that it is possible to see whether a person is infected with COVID-19. What differentiates OpenCell’s labs is the automated RNA extraction protocol using a magnetic-bead method which insulates OpenCell from some of the global demand on RNA extraction kits. Another main benefit of OpenCell’s project is that it is open-source. Over 150 volunteers worldwide contributed towards the challenges involved in developing testing capacity. The blueprints and protocols are available to everyone in form of a living document allowing people across the world to contribute and reproduce the project.