From saliva collection to virus testing: How can sample handling impact outcomes?

The recent pandemic caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated the high demand for tests to identify emerging pathogens and to prepare for any future pandemics. 

A large number of clinical laboratory errors may arise in the preanalytical phase and cause invalid test results and unnecessary financial investments. Standardized workflows from sample collection to test results exist for several molecular diagnostic areas, such as cancer detection from liquid biopsies. The field of pathogen detection is lacking standardized concepts for molecular testing, which may help improve the reliability of results. In this webinar, Melina Hardt, M.Sc., presents research studies examining the impact of preanalytical conditions, such as sample storage time and temperature, on the (multiplex) detection of various human respiratory viruses when collecting swab and saliva samples in commercially available collection devices, including the PAXgene Saliva Collector.