{"id":84579,"date":"2020-03-18T15:47:34","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T13:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/"},"modified":"2020-03-18T15:47:34","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T13:47:34","slug":"pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Pooling Method for Accelerated Testing of COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: 'arial black', sans-serif;\"><b>Technion and Rambam Health Care Campus scientists present a novel method for testing over 60 patients simultaneously<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vxs11ryS9Dg\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Researchers at Technion &#8211; Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Health Care Campus have successfully tested a method that will dramatically increase the current COVID-19 testing capacity using existing available resources. This method, known as pooling, enables simultaneous <\/span><b>testing of dozens of samples<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Its implementation has the potential to greatly accelerate the rate of testing and detection of COVID-19 infected patients in the population. The trial was completed in a matter of days thanks to the support of the Ministry of Health and the close collaboration between Technion and Rambam.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Testing for COVID-19 is currently being conducted in Israel with the focus on people with specific symptoms. The current rate of testing &#8211; about 1,200 a day \u2013 does not allow for monitoring of asymptomatic carriers in the population, which is vital to curb the epidemic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-38829 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Slide6-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"293\" height=\"165\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">COVID-19 is diagnosed with PCR testing, which is common for virus monitoring. This test examines the presence of a unique genetic sequence of viruses in a sample taken from the patient. The test takes several hours thus generating a bottleneck in identifying COVID-19 infected people in Israel and around the world. According to <\/span><b>Dr. Yuval Gefen, director of the Rambam Clinical Microbiology Laboratory<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201cToday, we receive approximately 200 COVID-19 test samples a day, and each sample undergoes individual examination. According to the new pooling approach that we have currently tested, molecular testing can be performed on a &#8220;combined sample,&#8221; taken from 32 or 64 patients. This way we can significantly accelerate the testing rate. Only in those rare cases, where the joint sample is found to be positive, will we conduct an individual test for each of the specific samples.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to <\/span><b>Prof. Roy Kishony, head of the research group in the Faculty of Biology at Technion<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201cThis is not a scientific breakthrough, but a demonstration of the effectivity of using the existing method and even the existing equipment to significantly increase the volume of samples tested per day. This is done by pooling multiple samples in a single test tube. Even when we conducted a joint examination of 64 samples in which only one was a positive carrier, the system identified that there was a positive sample. Although there are some logistical challenges in implementing the method, we expect that it will greatly increase the volume of samples tested per day so that we can identify the asymptomatic carriers. This approach should reduce the chance of infection and flatten the infection curve.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Director of the Rambam Virology Lab, Dr. Moran Szwarcwort-Cohen<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> estimates that: \u201cimplementing pooling in the final stage of the PCR test, will make it easier for us to shorten the entire process and significantly increase the test rate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>President of the Technion Prof. Uri Sivan<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> said: &#8220;This experiment that was conducted by Technion and Rambam researchers is complex, and under normal circumstances would take months. This is a remarkable example of the mobilization of an outstanding team in a time of crisis. The initial experiment was completed in less than four days. This achievement emphasizes the importance of the close relationship between Technion and Rambam and between medicine and engineering. Technion researchers have been enlisted in the war against the Coronavirus and this is one of the many activities currently underway at Technion to combat the spread of the disease.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>General Director of Rambam Health Care Campus Prof. Michael Halberthal<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> said that: \u201cThis collaboration between Technion and Rambam, for the benefit of all humanity, is just one example of many joint projects between the two institutions. These collaborations are designed to harness the multidisciplinary capabilities of Technion researchers for the advancement of medicine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The experiment was led jointly by Technion and Rambam researchers. At Technion by Dr. Idan Yelin together with Noga Aharony, Einat Tamar and Dina Berenbaum in Prof. Kishony&#8217;s laboratory and with Amir Argoetti from Prof. Yael Mandel-Gutfreund&#8217;s laboratory, both labs are in the Faculty of Biology. Prof. Roy Kishony holds the Marilyn and Henry Taub Chair in Life Sciences. Dr. Esti Messer, Head of the Technion Biological Safety Dept, set up the dedicated laboratory and accompanied the entire experiment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Rambam Health Care Campus, the team was led by Dr. Yuval Gefen, Dr. Moran Szwarcwort-Cohen with support of Prof. Michael Halberthal, Rambam General Director and CEO.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Technion and Rambam Health Care Campus scientists present a novel method for testing over 60 patients simultaneously &nbsp; Researchers at Technion &#8211; Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Health Care Campus have successfully tested a method that will dramatically increase the current COVID-19 testing capacity using existing available resources. This method, known as pooling, enables&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/\">Continue Reading<span> Pooling Method for Accelerated Testing of COVID-19<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pooling Method for Accelerated Testing of COVID-19 - \u05d4\u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05df-\u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pooling Method for Accelerated Testing of COVID-19 - \u05d4\u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05df-\u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Technion and Rambam Health Care Campus scientists present a novel method for testing over 60 patients simultaneously &nbsp; Researchers at Technion &#8211; Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Health Care Campus have successfully tested a method that will dramatically increase the current COVID-19 testing capacity using existing available resources. This method, known as pooling, enables&hellip; Continue Reading Pooling Method for Accelerated Testing of COVID-19\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u05d4\u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05df-\u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-18T13:47:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"shlomi ben-oz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"shlomi ben-oz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/\",\"name\":\"Pooling Method for Accelerated Testing of COVID-19 - 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\u05d4\u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05df-\u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pooling Method for Accelerated Testing of COVID-19 - \u05d4\u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05df-\u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc","og_description":"Technion and Rambam Health Care Campus scientists present a novel method for testing over 60 patients simultaneously &nbsp; Researchers at Technion &#8211; Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Health Care Campus have successfully tested a method that will dramatically increase the current COVID-19 testing capacity using existing available resources. This method, known as pooling, enables&hellip; Continue Reading Pooling Method for Accelerated Testing of COVID-19","og_url":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/","og_site_name":"\u05d4\u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05df-\u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc","article_published_time":"2020-03-18T13:47:34+00:00","author":"shlomi ben-oz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"shlomi ben-oz","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/","url":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/","name":"Pooling Method for Accelerated Testing of COVID-19 - \u05d4\u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05df-\u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Slide6-1024x576.jpg","datePublished":"2020-03-18T13:47:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d65b78b7a7446bdf9fb69078573b8320"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Slide6-1024x576.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Slide6-1024x576.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/pooling-method-for-accelerated-testing-of-covid-19\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home Page","item":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pooling Method for Accelerated Testing of COVID-19"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/","name":"\u05d4\u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5\u05df-\u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df \u05d8\u05db\u05e0\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d65b78b7a7446bdf9fb69078573b8320","name":"shlomi ben-oz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96b13158d164281df14ad8583ec2cb64?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96b13158d164281df14ad8583ec2cb64?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"shlomi ben-oz"},"url":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/author\/ben-ozshlomitechnion-ac-il\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84579\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}