Behind the scenes of the Molecular Biology laboratory for the detection of SARS-CoV2. The diary of the first month
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Behind the scenes of the Molecular Biology laboratory for the detection of SARS-CoV2. The diary of the first month

​​​Behind the scenes of the Molecular Biology laboratory for the detection of SARS-CoV2. The diary of the first month​​


Over 2500 samples, hundreds of working hours and an enthusiasm that remained intact, a month after the CEMEX molecular biology laboratory opened its doors. In the myriad of slightly chaotic figures of the pandemic, this is but the hook on which the discrete, but even more amazing, story of a different kind of heroes clings to. The story of a team of researchers and students volunteers who spent 10-14 hours a day in a laboratory like a spaceship, without food or even without drinking water, working on continuous fire without any material benefit, armed with passion and enthusiasm. The story of the CEMEX Molecular Biology Laboratory team.

The Beginning

The Molecular Biology Laboratory for SARS-CoV2 detection, of the CEMEX Research and Experimental Medicine Center of the “Grigore T. Popa" University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Iasi opened on April 3, 2020. In just three weeks, UMPh Iasi managed to set up one of the most modern laboratories of this kind in Romania. "We brought in two Real-Time PCR machines and purchased an automated viral nucleic acid extractor that ensures the detection accuracy but also the efficiency of the sample processing, 20.000 real-time PCR tests, DNA/RNA extraction kits and protective equipment of the last generation. The total amount for these purchases, as well as for the necessary consumables and protective equipment in the lab, is over 1.000.000 lei," explains Prof. Viorel Scripcariu, MD and rector of UMPh Iasi, at the lab opening." There is only one more laboratory in Romania with such a high level of biological safety, at “Matei Bals" Institute. The workflows and operation of the laboratory are at BSL3 (Biosafety level 3) standard, which ensures first and foremost the optimum protection of the personnel involved, but also the quality of the diagnosis." points out Assoc.prof. Bogdan Tamba, MD and Director of the Research and Experimental Medicine Center.

But besides the infrastructure and the intense effort to train and authorize a laboratory of this level, there is one more basic component: A top team of researchers and students volunteers. "Our staff knows the technique very well - Real-Time PCR, so the quality and analysis of the results is done professionally. People must understand that this technique is based on research and is being carried out into diagnosis. It is not a 100% automated technique, you do not press a button and the result is out, you have to interpret the results. It is not enough to press a button and wait for the result, it is not like that. This is a logarithmic amplification, a logarithmic curve. If that curve is not perfectly logarithmic, then you begin to ask questions and practically analyze each sample, each case, although 96 are done once. What the general public does not understand is that a past technique in diagnostic research is fundamental in the accuracy of the results. There are also absolutely obvious results, but when the viral load is not that big… and then the team, having a vast experience in this technique, does it well and doubts or false negative or false positive results are much less," explains Prof. Radu Iliescu, MD and Vice-Rector of UMPh Iasi.

“There is one thing to drive a Ferrari and a completely different thing to drive a tractor"

But the experience and knowledge of each member was not enough to make the project successful. "The human resource, which is the best in our case, means we have 10 people dedicated to this project, five with a PhD degree performed in the laboratory field, people around thirties and four students volunteers: Prof. Liliana Foia, MD, SR3 Biologist (scientific researcher of grade 3)Gianina Dodi,MD, SR3 Biologist Cosmin Teodor Mihai, MD, Lecturer Roxana Popescu, SR3 Biologist Mitică Ciorpac, Bioingineer Florina Cojocaru Ivan and students Ștefan Gabriel Butnărică – Faculty of Medicine, III rd year, Cezar Cătălin Caratașu – Faculty of Medicine, V th year, Bianca Elena Crețu – master student in Medical Bioengineering and Antoanela Maria Pasăre – Faculty of Medicine, VI th year. Some of them knew each other before, some had never met before. It's a brand-new lab with a different flow, with different rules, and different procedures. This means that team members need to know each other, to harmonize, to learn to respect the rules and work procedures. Just like with cars. Even if you have a driving license, there is one thing to drive a Ferrari, another to drive a Renault and something else to drive a tractor. And if you go on a race with a Ferrari– as we did, everything must be at maximum, not just sufficient, because we are talking about a highly dangerous pathogen," CEMEX director thinks.

Shortly, the team was ready to lead to the maximum the Ferrari and the relationships strengthened: "We are already friends, not just colleagues, because after a month of 12 to 14 hours a day with someone, the relationships become very close," continued Assoc.prof. Bogdan Tamba, MD.

Beyond the aspect of self-training and learning the working procedures, there was also a third component: external collaborators, suppliers of the samples. "We work for various public institutions or hospitals. It is obviously a process of mutual knowledge, a process of trust. As a newly established laboratory – we received the authorization to operate from the Department of Public Health on April 8 and a certain reluctance to order tests at the CEMEX laboratory was obvious. The process is a curve, but an accelerated one. If in the first week we had around 40 samples, in the second week we had 300, and now we are doing almost 1000 tests every week. The process of gaining mutual trust between external collaborators and the University, and making communication more efficient, is being worked out", said CEMEX director.

„They received light from CEMEX, literally and figuratively"

"With the passing of time, you go into a routine, we work up to 200 samples a day," CEMEX team leader declared. "In the Great Friday of Easter, they received several hundred samples from Suceava - from the Center for psychiatric rehabilitation, where there were hundreds of ill cases and finished work at 5.30 in the morning, then the next shift entered, which ended on Sunday at midnight. They did not celebrate Easter," tells Prof. Radu Iliescu, MD. "They received light from CEMEX, literally and figuratively," confirms Assoc.prof. Bogdan Tamba, MD.

And last Saturday night, an emergency of life and death made them jump out of their pajamas and answer positively to a request from Prof. Adrian Covic, the Vice-rector of UMPh Iasi and the coordinator of the Regional Transplant Nephrologic Center Iasi, who needed rapid tests before performing renal transplants. "The test had to be carried out urgently. Heartedly, we sent a message to our group of WhatsApp: Dear colleagues, we need to take three tests, but we help saving two lives. On Saturday morning at 3, the first results came out. On Sunday, the same happened to a kidney donor and we also took the tests at 22.00, and at 3 in the morning I had the results" tells us Assoc.prof. Bogdan Tamba.

How do we cope with the work program? "I obviously care about their working time, because the phenomenon of burn-out occurs, they do not realize it, they are enthusiastic, young and willing to do a lot, but it does not mean that their organism does not feel the results of that. The most sensitive area is the extraction area, where live virus is used and where those very sophisticated protective equipment are used. There, you literally don't drink water, you can just breath, that's it. If you want to drink water or go to the toilet, you need half an hour to get rid of your protective equipment and half an hour to wash yourself, while everyone else is waiting for you. You'd better eat and drink water in the morning, at 7.70 and at 13-14 o'clock you finish what you started. We are now working on two shifts, the work program has been balanced. I don't want them to stay at work for more than ten hours, at the most, and I insist on that" says the CEMEX director.

"These students make us proud to be members of a community where people put the good of the community above their own good."

Four students from UMPh Iasi volunteered to complete the team of molecular biology laboratory from CEMEX: Stefan Gabriel Butnarica – Faculty of Medicine, III rd year, Cezar Catalin Caratasu - Faculty of Medicine, V th year, Bianca Elena Cretu – master student of Medical Bioengineering and Antoanela Maria Pasare - Faculty of Medicine, VI th year. "These students deal with paperwork, they don't enter the lab, because they are not allowed. Their role has proved absolutely fundamental, because the way in which the evidence comes – the way the analysis it is ordered and executed, is completely chaotic. No day resembles another. Why write regulations and protocols when on the tubes is written with a pen a name you can't understand. And then they search the documents, they look, identify, draft tables. Students have done their job impeccable and without them the people in the lab cannot do anything. The organization of the flow is fundamental, because we are not talking about two tests, we are talking about hundreds. Identification, classification, screening, consistency with results, communication of results is as important as carrying out the tests themselves. These students work exactly as much as the others do," praises Vice-rector Radu Iliescu, MD.

For "the voluntary and extremely intense effort", the Rector of the UMPh Iasi, Prof. Viorel Scripcariu, sent them a thank you letter: "The volunteer students understood, before completing their medical university training, what is the goal of an employee in the health system: to save lives. They have normally overcome their fear for their own health, for their family and friends with the force of thinking that they are doing their duty to the sick. They have gone out of their comfort zone and acted with the energy needed to do something specific for the benefit of those in suffering. Volunteering is an important part of the students' training both at a human level and as professionals, according with our University's third mission: Social responsibility. By that, it means that the knowledge that University generates is used to do social good. The fact that they were able to be with those who need it, gives students a chance to apply the principles and values that we search to convey. These students make us proud to be members of a Community where people put the good of the community above their own good."

https://news.umfiasi.ro/din-culisele-laboratorului-de-biologie-moleculara-pentru-detectia-sars-cov2-jurnalul-primei-luni/