How the ӳý community is responding to COVID-19
Update June 12, 2023: COVID-19 is still with us, but the once-urgent need for PCR testing has subsided and can be addressed by other providers focused on diagnostics. So the ӳý is winding down its COVID-19 diagnostic testing program, with June 30, 2023 as the last day of operations. The ӳý continues to conduct research and develop technologies to better understand, diagnose, and treat infectious diseases.
As the COVID-19 pandemic presents increasing public health challenges, scientists from around the world have responded with openness and unprecedented speed, studying the SARS-CoV-2 virus and working to develop new diagnostic technologies, treatments, and tools for researchers. Scientists at the ӳý of MIT and Harvard are contributing to this global effort in a variety of ways.
Learn more about how the ӳý community is partnering with local and state governments and health care providers to support testing efforts.
Clinical testing
ӳý has created a novel automation system for COVID-19 test processing that is scalable, modular, and high-throughput, in service of the public health needs of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and surrounding areas. We have organized our support around hospitals and clinics; nursing homes, long-term care facilities, and homeless shelters; residents in high-impact communities; colleges and universities; and Massachusetts K-12 schools.
ӳý is processing pooled COVID-19 tests for Massachusetts K-12 schools
February 25, 2021
The ӳý of MIT and Harvard, in partnership with Tufts University, and , has begun processing pooled COVID-19 tests from students and staff at Massachusetts K-12 schools. Pooled testing provides a more cost-effective way of testing large groups of people, such as an entire school.
May 5, 2021: Read this describing the implementation and feasibility of K-12 screening testing for schools.
September 14, 2021: The ӳý is continuing to process pooled COVID-19 tests for Massachusetts K-12 schools for the 2021-2022 school year. Learn more.
September 2, 2020
ӳý of MIT and Harvard is partnering with 108 public and private colleges and universities in Massachusetts and the surrounding region to provide regular COVID-19 testing for students, faculty, and staff, as part of back-to-school plans. The program to support higher education was conceived in May, when the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts (AICUM) reached out to the ӳý to ask it to support its member organizations’ desire for regular testing in the Fall 2020 semester. ӳý’s high-throughput COVID-19 testing facility has processed more than 1.1 million COVID-19 tests since March.
ӳý, Commonwealth of Massachusetts team up to test at-risk populations in COVID-19 hotspots
July 13, 2020
In partnership with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the ӳý of MIT and Harvard is supporting the state’s “Stop the Spread” testing initiative. The COVID-19 testing center at the ӳý is providing testing, training, and supplies to health agencies in eight hard-hit communities in the state. Expanded testing in these communities will help identify new cases, including asymptomatic carriers, support contact tracing efforts, and help curb the spread of coronavirus.
ӳý partners with City of Cambridge to pilot COVID-19 surveillance in nursing facilities
April 16, 2020
Niall Lennon, institute scientist and senior director of translational genomics in the ӳý’s Genomics Platform, described why the pilot program is so critical for this high-risk group.
The ӳý of MIT and Harvard has launched a pilot program, in partnership with the Cambridge Public Health Department and ProEMS ambulance service, to conduct COVID-19 testing of all residents and staff members at Cambridge’s seven skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities. The results give the City of Cambridge the ability to more quickly respond to outbreaks.
Update, April 17, 2020: The ӳý is now working with ProEMS to conduct COVID-19 testing for residents and staff at Cambridge’s homeless shelters, using the same rapid testing surveillance methods currently being used at the city’s nursing and assisted living facilities.
ӳý’s CLIA-certified testing center begins processing COVID-19 patient samples
March 26, 2020
Working in partnership with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Massachusetts State Public Health Laboratory, and area hospitals, the CLIA-certified lab of the ӳý of MIT and Harvard has begun processing COVID-19 test samples from patients across New England. The lab returned its first batch of results back to physicians within 24 hours of receiving samples. As teams at the testing center apply additional automation, tests will take approximately 12 hours to complete from receipt.
Sheila Dodge, general manager of the ӳý's Genomics Platform, talked about how she and her collaborators quickly scaled the testing center to create capacity to process approximately 2,000 COVID-19 tests per day.
March 27, 2020
Facing a pandemic, scientific and administrative teams across the institute raced to enable coronavirus testing. Read how the ӳý's COVID-19 testing facility rapidly came together.
