Buzz about RT-qPCR: An RT-qPCR formulation for SARS-CoV-2 detection using reagents produced at Georgia Institute of Technology

Mascuch, Samantha J.; Fakhretaha-Aval, Sara; Bowman, Jessica C.; Ma, Minh Thu H.; Thomas, Gwendell; Bommarius, Bettina; Ito, Chieri; Zhao, Liangjun; Newnam, Gary P.; Matange, Kavita R.; Thapa, Hem R.; Barlow, Brett; Donegan, Rebecca K.; Nguyen, Nguyet A.; Saccuzzo, Emily G.; Obianyor, Chiamaka T.; Karunakaran, Suneesh C.; Pollet, Pamela; Rothschild-Mancinelli, Brooke; Mestre-Fos, Santi; Guth-Metzler, Rebecca; Bryksin, Anton V.; Petrov, Anton S.; Hazell, Mallory; Ibberson, Carolyn B.; Penev, Petar I.; Mannino, Robert G.; Lam, Wilbur A.; Garcia, Andrés J.; Kubanek, Julia M.; Agarwal, Vinayak; Hud, Nicholas V.; Glass, Jennifer B.; Williams, Loren Dean; Lieberman, Raquel L.

Widespread testing for the presence novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in patients remains vital for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic prior to the advent of an effective treatment. The early testing shortfall in some parts of the US can be traced to an initial shortage of supplies, expertise and/or instrumentation necessary to detect the virus by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Here we show that academic biochemistry and molecular biology laboratories equipped with appropriate expertise and infrastructure can produce the RT-qPCR assay and backfill pipeline shortages. The Georgia Tech COVID-19 Test Kit Support Group synthesized multiplexed primers and probes and formulated a master mix composed of enzymes and proteins produced in-house. We compare the performance of our in-house kit to a commercial product used for diagnostic testing and describe implementation of environmental testing to monitor surfaces across various campus laboratories for the presence of SARS-CoV-2.