Home Coronaviruses [Sample type/transportation/preparation] Sample type/transportation/preparation
Coronaviruses roadmap:
Diagnostic Tests

Roadmap for the development of diagnostic tests for coronaviruses

Download 202410 Draft Coronavirus Diagnostic Development_Final

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Sample type/transportation/preparation

Sample type/transportation/preparation

Research Question

  • Standardise sampling for ease and safe transport

Research Gaps and Challenges

  • Technical and regulatory issues
  • Safe handling for operators
  • Preserve samples from variability of temperature in field condition transportation
  • Non-invasive sampling methods for wildlife (including restrictions on authority to sample wildlife for discovery)
  • Accessible matrix for livestock (e.g. bulk milk, faeces, oral fluids…)
  • Limitation from regulations to samples movements of high pathogenic virus (Nagoya protocol) vs need for rapid access to outbreak strains to develop diagnostics
  • Timeline for policy development/negotiation of sample sharing related to implementation of Nagoya protocol at country level

Solution Routes

  • Find the Agent (FTA) card to transport genome without need for cold chain
  • Drone technology to speed up delivery and collection from the field to hubs for processing of samples
  • Standardised protocols for sampling on different species and matrix
  • Virtual biobanking, at least on a regional level (sera and clinical samples) with an overarching policy to allow sharing
  • Validate specificity of tests using banked samples
  • Sampling methods and transport for low resource settings
  • Generate synthetic virus / products (GM) from published sequence when wild types can’t be shared
  • Utilization of postmortem tissues for antibody surveillance (i.e. meat or lymph node exudates).  Especially useful in wildlife or post-harvest sample
  • Develop guidelines for sample sharing
  • Influencing policy: working with government to address export control restrictions/Nagoya protocol

Dependencies

  • User friendly strategy for sampling in different settings
  • Global standards from policy makers

State Of the Art