Virology laboratory established at the UCC

24.03.2020

Laboratory of Molecular Diagnostics of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus was set up at the University Clinical Centre, the MUG hospital with the aim to conduct the coronavirus diagnostic tests. The laboratory operates on behalf of the Provincial Sanitary-Epidemiological Station in Gdańsk. It is located at the 1st floor of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the UCC. For the safety of both patients and personnel there is a separate entrance leading to the laboratory.

– We have an experienced team of 4 diagnosticians specialised in molecular and virologic diagnostics who have been designated to work in the newly established laboratory unit – say Adam Sudoł, M.D., deputy general director of the UCC for medical logistics. – We received the ELITe InGenius® apparatus from the Ministry of Health, along with 6,000 tests. Its maximum diagnostic capacity is 36 tests per day.

The apparatus was delivered on the 16th March 2020 in the afternoon. Once the equipment was calibrated and all the essential lab infrastructure set up, the first samples were subjected to diagnosis on Thursday, 19th March.

– For the laboratory to start operating properly, specific criteria must be met. Safety of the personnel is of utmost priority here. Due to the seriousness of the current epidemiological situation our aim was to establish a diagnostics lab as soon as possible and thereby support the Provincial Sanitary-Epidemiological Station in Gdańsk. Luckily, thanks to the good organization of our team, we were able to start testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus fast – explains Adam Sudoł, M.D.

In addition to the apparatus received from the Ministry of Health, UCC has its own identical equipment used so far in the Hematology Laboratory, which, due to current needs, has also been adapted for coronavirus testing.