In January 2020, the U.S. recognized it was facing a coronavirus pandemic, and with it came the challenge of providing testing for multitudes of individuals that may be carrying the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initially required mailing collected samples to the CDC office in Atlanta, Georgia, but the results were not available for 3-5 days, sometimes longer. Determined to overcome those obstacles, Dr. Jana Broadhurst focused her efforts on developing an in-house diagnostic test for the Nebraska Medicine clinical laboratory.
Dr. Broadhurst, along with some of her colleagues, Director Paul Fey, Fellow Hannah Creager, Research Scientist Luke Handke and a team of collaborators from the department of Pathology and Microbiology started preparing as soon as it was known that UNMC/Nebraska Medicine would be playing a role in the care of repatriated Americans in the National Quarantine Unit and the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit. Their goal was to create a diagnostic test for Nebraska Medicine’s clinical lab that would support patients and the local community. The option of in-house testing provides efficient and effective diagnosis of COVID-19 and enables support of Nebraska Medicine patients and the local community; additionally, it helps monitor health care workers and clinical research studies at UNMC/Nebraska Medicine. Utilizing the public sharing of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences and gene targets described by the World Health Organization, the team was able to create a viable test within several weeks.
Quickly, the team validated the test ensuring it demonstrated high accuracy and performed well. Soon after, UNMC/Nebraska Medicine were proud to be performing dozens of tests a day in the community with plans to increase capability. The test has been approved for use by the FDA and has been fully implemented in the clinical molecular diagnostics laboratory at UNMC.