The University of Minnesota has created the state’s fourth on-site testing facility for SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease. It is located in two buildings on the north side of the Minneapolis campus, in the Biomedical Discovery District: the Microbiology Research Facility (MRF) and the Cancer and Cardiovascular Research Building (CCRB).
“Because the University stopped many nonessential research studies to abide by the state’s ‘stay at home’ order, lab space … became available at MRF,” says Sophia Yohe, associate professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, who led the drive to establish the center. It was up and running in only about five days.
While the team turns around results faster than other testing sites in the state, it cam currently complete just 64 tests per day. Yohe says that’s due to the nationwide shortage of testing and extraction supplies.
“If we’re planning for a 30-day window of testing, assuming that we receive no other supplies, we can do 64 tests per day for the next 30 days,” she says.
