Vibra Health Laboratory Scales its Operation to Support COVID-19 Testing with Rapid Turnaround Time

Vibra Health Laboratory in Troy last week formally announced the availability of its high-throughput COVID-19 diagnostic testing services to support Michigan’s private physician and hospital community as well as its national partners in need of rapid and accurate testing for their patients and staff.
1056
Vibra Health Laboratory coats
Vibra Health Laboratory’s COVID-19 diagnostic test is now available. // Photo courtesy of Vibra Health Laboratory

Vibra Health Laboratory in Troy last week formally announced the availability of its high-throughput COVID-19 diagnostic testing services to support Michigan’s private physician and hospital community as well as its national partners in need of rapid and accurate testing for their patients and staff.

Responding to the community’s immediate need for rapid testing and following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s announcement to grant Emergency Use Authorization to the Thermo Fisher 7500DX Platform protocol, VHL launched its COVID-19 Real Time PCR multiplex assay, a qualitative test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA present in respiratory tract specimens of suspected infected patients.

This assay targets three different viral genomic regions within the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome, a superior choice over targeting a single region used in other tests and therefore reducing the risk of false negatives. These target regions have undergone bioinformatic selection and analysis to specifically target sequences that are unique to SARS-CoV-2 as determined by the latest available reference genome.

VHL leverages its ultra-high-throughput instruments and 384-well plate setup strategy to enable four times the throughput of the standard 96-well plate runs. Higher throughput capabilities enable VHL to run each patient specimen in duplicate, ensuring more accurate results, while simultaneously allowing 24-hour turn-around time, even as the specimen volume reaches its anticipated apex of COVID-19 cases in Michigan. The lab is expected to continue to ramp up its testing capacity by adding equipment and technical personnel in the coming days.

“VHL is dedicated to supporting its local community through this life-threatening pandemic,” says Brad Hollinger, president and CEO of Vibra Health Laboratory. “The current situation compelled us to shift our primary focus of the lab to scale our facility to match the testing needs of our community.”

Following Michigan’s Stay Home, Stay Safe executive order, VHL was deemed an essential infrastructure business. The team quickly adapted its operations to implement appropriate social distancing practices and disinfecting protocols to ensure safety of its employees and customers.

VHL continues to support its toxicology and other molecular testing services to ensure no lapse in quality of care for its customers and partners.