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Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis
. 2024 Mar 2;109(1):116241.
doi: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2024.116241. Online ahead of print. Automated wash and reuse of disposable pipette tips in a SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR diagnostic pipeline
Sanne S Berger 1 , Jonas Høgberg 2 , Franziska Kuntke 2 , Louisa Obari 2 , Helene Larsen 2
Affiliations
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic led to global shortages in laboratory consumables, in particular for automated PCR. The Technical University of Denmark supported Danish hospitals from 2020 to 2022, conducting SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR on around 10,000 patient samples daily. We encountered shortages of disposable pipette tips used with automated liquid handlers that transferred oropharyngeal swab samples to 96-well microplates before RNA extraction. To enable tip reuse, we developed an automated protocol for washing tips with a 0.5 % sodium hypochlorite solution. This effectively eliminated carry-over of genomic material and the wash solution remained effective when stored in an open reservoir at ambient temperatures for 24 h. A three-day validation setup demonstrated the robustness of the tip wash protocol. Reducing the number of tips used for transferring samples to 96-well microplates from 96 to 8 enabled us to mitigate pipette tip shortages, lower costs, and minimize plastic waste generation.
Keywords: Automated; PCR; Pipette tip; Reuse; Sodium hypochlorite; Wash protocol.
. 2024 Mar 2;109(1):116241.
doi: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2024.116241. Online ahead of print. Automated wash and reuse of disposable pipette tips in a SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR diagnostic pipeline
Sanne S Berger 1 , Jonas Høgberg 2 , Franziska Kuntke 2 , Louisa Obari 2 , Helene Larsen 2
Affiliations
- PMID: 38452555
- DOI: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2024.116241
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic led to global shortages in laboratory consumables, in particular for automated PCR. The Technical University of Denmark supported Danish hospitals from 2020 to 2022, conducting SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR on around 10,000 patient samples daily. We encountered shortages of disposable pipette tips used with automated liquid handlers that transferred oropharyngeal swab samples to 96-well microplates before RNA extraction. To enable tip reuse, we developed an automated protocol for washing tips with a 0.5 % sodium hypochlorite solution. This effectively eliminated carry-over of genomic material and the wash solution remained effective when stored in an open reservoir at ambient temperatures for 24 h. A three-day validation setup demonstrated the robustness of the tip wash protocol. Reducing the number of tips used for transferring samples to 96-well microplates from 96 to 8 enabled us to mitigate pipette tip shortages, lower costs, and minimize plastic waste generation.
Keywords: Automated; PCR; Pipette tip; Reuse; Sodium hypochlorite; Wash protocol.