Personnel protection was required while processing virus samples
LELAND, NC (June 17, 2020) – Flow Sciences, Inc., a leading global provider of containment solutions, recently worked with Sema4, a patient-centered health intelligence company, to provide enclosures designed to protect its laboratory personnel while processing patient samples for COVID-19. Due to the crucial nature of Sema4’s work, Flow Sciences designed, engineered, tested, and delivered all ten enclosures to Sema4’s laboratory in Branford, CT within four weeks.
Flow Sciences constructed a polypropylene-framed enclosure with removable panels for equipment loading. A Dual HEPA Bag-in/Bag-out fan and filter system would clean the workspace air and allow for recirculation back into the laboratory. The customized enclosure was modeled around the JANUS G3 liquid handler with a waste chute was fitted in the base. The JANUS G3 primary sample reformatter provides safe and traceable barcode scanning and reformatting of up to 192 input biological samples from nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs into various destination labware to support viral nucleic acid extraction. The Janus G3 can be loaded with samples, closed within the enclosure, and then run using exterior controls—allowing the personnel to safely “walk away” while sample manipulation occurs. A monitor mount and sliding keyboard tray was constructed for ease of use with the JANUS G3 on the FSI unit’s custom table. The operator does not have to slide the acrylic door of the enclosure open to remove samples until the cycle is complete—isolating personnel as requested. Any maintenance on the unit can be done by way of removable acrylic side panels which allow access to the sides and rear of the unit without removing the Janus G3 from the enclosure.
Sema4 needed enclosures from Flow Sciences as it expanded its COVID-19 viral testing capacity to 10,000 tests per day and launched antibody testing, with the ability to process 5,000 tests per day. Sema4 is providing an end-to-end digital solution for those ordering and receiving COVID-19 tests, including portals for registering employees and patients, tracking samples, and reporting results.
“Our team recognized the importance of Sema4’s work on this terrible virus, so we prioritized the design and delivery of these enclosures,” says Ray Ryan, President and CEO of Flow Sciences, Inc. “We consider our inclusion in this project as a big step forward in the fight against COVID-19.”
For more information about Sema4’s COVID-19 offerings, please visit https://sema4.com/covid19-testing.
For more information about FSI’s custom enclosure capabilities, please visit https://flowsciences.com or call us at 1-800-849-3429
