Innovative Partnership Creates Critically Needed COVID-19 Diagnostic Lab at Oklahoma State University
07 April 2020 - 11:17AM
Business Wire
An innovative collaboration and herculean effort between two
campuses at Oklahoma State University (OSU) is allowing the
institution to play a key role in the state’s fight against
COVID-19.
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the full release here:
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Dr. Kenneth Sewell, Dean of Research at
Oklahoma State University, stands inside a laboratory where patient
samples are being analyzed for COVID-19 on the campus of Oklahoma
State University in Stillwater, Okla. (Photo: Business Wire)
As university leaders considered how its resources could serve
the state, a partnership between the main Stillwater campus and OSU
Medicine in Tulsa emerged. FDA-approved machines to run the test
analysis for COVID-19 were identified at a lab on the Stillwater
campus – which would address the state’s limited testing capacity.
Historically a lab used for diagnosing diseases and detecting
outbreaks in animals since 1975, the OSU Diagnostic Laboratory
quickly earned CLIA certification to conduct human diagnostic
testing.
Dr. Kenneth Sewell, OSU vice president for research, said the
collaboration and can-do spirit has been impressive.
“We were fortunate that we had equipment already up and running
that works with this particular test, and we had the ability to
marshal forces during a stressful time,” he said. “We have a
flexible mindset – when we have a problem to solve, we solve it,”
he said.
Johnny Stephens, chief operating officer and senior vice
president of OSU Medicine, is proud of the seamless partnership
between the campuses.
“OSU’s research and medical campuses came together to activate a
lab capable of testing more than 2,000 samples a day. We’re honored
to help the entire state through our combined resources.”
Just twelve days after the decision was made to set up the
COVID-19 lab, OSU technicians processed the first 53 specimens.
Three days later, health care providers were submitting more than
1,000 specimens a day. Additional qualified lab personnel have been
identified, many volunteering to serve from OSU research labs.
Fully operational, the lab could analyze more than 2,000 specimens
daily.
The lab is providing answers for sick patients and exhausted
health care providers, with results being returned in 1-2 business
days, most within 24 hours. More importantly, the lab could
potentially impact the trajectory of the disease in Oklahoma,
making a difference difficult to quantify.
“Increased testing will give public health officials a more
accurate and realistic picture of COVID-19 in Oklahoma. Until now,
the state has only had the capacity to deal with the situation on
the level of the patient,” Sewell said. “We have to get to the next
level of mapping the spread of the disease. That’s how you flatten
the curve.”
PHOTOS:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/ostatenews/bx74C9
VIDEO:
OSU COVID-19 Diagnostic Lab : Media BRoll -
https://youtu.be/1zmn18iq--8
OSU COVID-19 Diagnostic Lab : Soundbites -
https://youtu.be/wSWFLOqiytA
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200407005390/en/
Shannon Rigsby, Public Information Officer
shannon.rigsby@okstate.edu 405.744.9081