Sample pooling strategies for SARS-CoV-2 detection

Nefeli Lagopati; Panagiota Tsioli; Ioanna Mourkioti; Aikaterini Polyzou; Angelos Papaspyropoulos; Alexandros Zafiropoulos; Konstantinos Evangelou; George Sourvinos; Vassilis G Gorgoulis

doi:10.1016/j.jviromet.2020.114044

Sample pooling strategies for SARS-CoV-2 detection

J Virol Methods. 2021 Mar:289:114044. doi: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2020.114044. Epub 2020 Dec 11.

Authors

Nefeli Lagopati¹, Panagiota Tsioli¹, Ioanna Mourkioti¹, Aikaterini Polyzou¹, Angelos Papaspyropoulos¹, Alexandros Zafiropoulos², Konstantinos Evangelou¹, George Sourvinos³, Vassilis G Gorgoulis⁴

Affiliations

¹ Molecular Carcinogenesis Group, Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, National Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Greece.
² Laboratory of Clinical Virology, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
³ Laboratory of Clinical Virology, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Electronic address: sourvino@med.uoc.gr.
⁴ Molecular Carcinogenesis Group, Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, National Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Greece; Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece; Molecular and Clinical Cancer Sciences, Manchester Cancer Research Centre, Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; Center for New Biotechnologies and Precision Medicine, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece. Electronic address: vgorg@med.uoa.gr.

Abstract

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic outburst has caused a serious public health issue with increasing needs of accurate and rapid diagnostic and screening testing. This situation requires an optimized management of the chemical reagents, the consumables, and the human resources, in order to respond accurately and effectively, controlling the spread of the disease. Testing on pooled samples maximizes the number of tested samples, by minimizing the time and the lab supplies needed. The general conceptualization of the pooling method is based on mixing samples together in a batch. Individual testing is needed only if a specific pool exhibits a positive result. The development of alternative hybrid methods, based on "in house" protocols, utilizing commercially available consumables, in combination with a reliable pooling method would provide a solution, focusing on the better exploitation of the personnel and the lab supplies, allowing for rapid screening of a population in a reasonably short time.

Keywords: Array testing; Hierarchical algorithm; N genes; Pooling methods; SARS-CoV-2.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19 / diagnosis*
COVID-19 / epidemiology
COVID-19 Testing
Diagnostic Tests, Routine
Humans
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2 / isolation & purification*
Specimen Handling / methods*
Specimen Handling / standards