From research to rapid response: mass COVID-19 testing by volunteers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

• Published in: F1000 research Vol. 9; p. 1336
• Main Authors: Ghose, Ritobrata, Aranguren-Ibáñez, Álvaro, Arecco, Niccolò, Balboa, Diego, Bataller, Marc, Beltran, Sergi, Benisty, Hannah, Bénard, Angèle, Bernardo, Edgar, Carbonell Sala, Sílvia, Casals, Eloi, Ciampi, Ludovica, Condemi, Livia, Corvó, Alberto, Cosín-Tomás, Marta, Cuenca-Ardura, Mirabai, Duran Serrano, Juan Manuel, Espejo Díaz, María Isabel, Fernandez Callejo, Marcos, Gañez-Zapater, Antoni, Garcia-Castellanos, Raquel, Garrido, Romina, Henkin, Gil, Hermoso Pulido, Toni, Hernandez-Alias, Xavier, Herrero Vicente, Jorge, Ingham, Matthew, Lim, Wei Ming, Llonch, Sílvia, Marmesat Bertoli, Elena, Miguel-Escalada, Irene, Montero-Blay, Ariadna, Navarrete Hernández, Cristina, Neguembor, Maria Victoria, Ní Chárthaigh, Róisín-Ana, Pardo-Lorente, Natalia, Pascual-Reguant, Laura, Pérez-Lluch, Sílvia, Perza, Reyes, Pesaresi, Martina, Picó Amador, Daniel, Pifarré, Paula, Piscia, Davide, Plana-Carmona, Marcos, Ponomarenko, Julia, Radusky, Leandro, Rivero, Ezequiel, Rogalska, Malgorzata, Torcal Garcia, Guillem, Wojnacki, José
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Faculty of 1000 Ltd 2020; F1000 Research Limited; F1000 Research Ltd
• Subjects: Bioinformatics; Biomedical research; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 diagnostic tests; Disease transmission; Genomics; Infections; Initiatives; Laboratories; Medical research; Opinion; Pandemics; Proteins; Reagents; Research parks; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Teams; health; COVID-19 testing; volunteers; collaboration
• ISSN: 2046-1402; 2046-1402
• DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.27497.1

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed and is continuously posing enormous societal and health challenges worldwide. The research community has mobilized to develop novel projects to find a cure or a vaccine, as well as to contribute to mass testing, which has been a critical measure to contain the infection in several countries. Through this article, we share our experiences and learnings as a group of volunteers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, Spain. As members of the ORFEU project, an initiative by the Government of Catalonia to achieve mass testing of people at risk and contain the epidemic in Spain, we share our motivations, challenges and the key lessons learnt, which we feel will help better prepare the global society to address similar situations in the future.