On August 10, China Health Commission issued Notice on Further Strengthening the Organization and Management of Nucleic Acid Testing for All Staff (the Notice) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic control and prevention. The Notice requires the completion of the COVID testing for 5 million people in 2 days.

Science and technology constitute a primary productive force!

"We have greatly upgraded the performance of automation equipment and accumulated extensive frontline experience, making it possible to provide urgent support for large-scale nucleic acid testing." Lin Siyuan, Director of Mobile Lab at MGI.

MGISTP-7000 High-throughput Automated Sample Transfer Processing System

"It will take 42 MGISTP-7000 High-throughput Automated Sample Transfer Processing Systems, 25 MGISP-NE384 High-throughput Automated Nucleic Acid Extractors and 13 MGISP-960 High-throughput Automated Sample Preparation Systems to work together to complete 5 million tests in two days if 10 mixed samples are pooled in one tube." Said Lin Siyuan.

MGISP-NE384 High-throughput Automated Nucleic Acid Extractor

MGISP-960 High-throughput Automated Sample Preparation System

How do these powerful systems work together? Specific procedures are as follows:

1. When the samples are unpacked, MGISTP-7000 will be ready to transfer up to 192 samples from airtight sample tubes or plain tubes to 96-well microplates in 40 minutes. It can automatically complete tube uncapping, tube recapping, barcode identification and automated liquid transfer during the process.

2. After the samples are transferred, they will be loaded onto MGISP-NE384 for RNA Extraction. MGISP-NE384 is a high-throughput automated nucleic acid extractor, and one unit can process 10,000 samples per day, greatly improving nucleic acid testing capability.

3. Unloading the samples onto MGISP-960 to prepare for PCR testing after RNA extraction. MGISP-960 will complete the fluorescence quantitative PCR testing and deliver test results automatically.

MGI Container Lab arrived in Hebi, Henan Province to improve the local nucleic acid detection capability.

On August 9, MGI Container Lab and automation equipment arrived in Jingmen, Hubei Province. On August 10, six technicians from Wuhan University People's Hospital supported the large-scale nucleic acid detection in Jingmen.

"MGI automation systems can run 24 hours a day, which simplify the most labor-intensive and time-consuming procedures in the testing laboratories. One technician can operate three units at the same time, greatly improving the testing efficiency." Said Lin Siyuan

MGI believes technology and innovation is the key!

To meet the large-scale nucleic acid testing demands, how to improve the efficiency is the key problem. The sample transfer process after conventional inactivation requires a lot of manual work. These seemingly trivial operations can significantly affect the efficiency of nucleic acid testing, especially for large-scale screening. It will be difficult for tens of thousands of lab technicians to meet such high-throughput testing requirements in three shifts. Meanwhile, frequent manual contact with samples can increase the risk of infection.

MGI supported large-scale nucleic acid testing in Henan

"MGI automation equipment has been fighting through multiple battles in the national-wide COVID-19 combat. MGI R&D and product department is committed to solving practical problems through scientific and technological tools." Said Li Jing, Vice Director of Products R&D department at MGI.

MGI supported to upgrade the testing lab for Xinbei CDC, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province to further improve the detection capacity.

MGI automation systems have supported more than 24 cities and regions in China

In response to the sudden outbreaks in China, Li Jing and his team are always ready to march to the front line to provide technical support and improve products performance. MGISTP-7000 can complete tube uncapping, barcode identification, sample dispatching, tube recapping, with a single-click, and only requires manual placement of samples. To accommodate different testing needs in the frontline, Li Jing's team quickly improved the sample tube adaptation technology to make MGISTP-7000 be able to be compatible with different types of sample tubes to help simplify the labor-intensive and time-consuming procedures in a testing laboratory such as sample transfer.

MGISTP-7000 high-throughput automated sample transfer processing system is processing samples

"We are committed to upgrading our innovative platforms to standardize a diagnostic testing lab with higher data capacity and automation for large-scale nucleic acid detection." Said Li Jing.

MGI Container Lab supported the large-scale nucleic acid testing in Changsha, Hunan Province.

MGI mobile vehicle-mounted nucleic acid testing labs supported the COVID-19 outbreak in Hebei.

MGI mobile nucleic acid testing platforms have supported the outbreaks in more than 30 cities and regions in China to date, including Jiangsu, Hunan, Wuhan, Hainan, Henan, Ruili and more.