Edinburgh University to deliver 1,000 Covid-19 tests per day for NHS

A pool of 25 scientists will work on the project.

Edinburgh University is to begin running 1,000 Covid-19 tests a day to support the NHS.

Tests will take place in laboratories at the university’s Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the Western General.

The university will supply laboratory space, expertise, testing machines, and key chemicals used to detect the presence of coronavirus.

A pool of 25 scientists were selected from 750 volunteers.

A team of 25 scientists from across the university has been chosen to work on the project from a pool of 750 volunteers. They will use real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines to identify the active presence of the virus in patients.

The tests will be fully integrated into NHS systems and under NHS Lothian oversight. Results will be given directly to NHS Lothian within 24 hours of the test.

University of Edinburgh Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Peter Mathieson, said: “The University of Edinburgh is making numerous contributions to the response to Covid-19 and I am delighted to see this latest example.

“Our collaboration with the NHS will always be vitally important to us and we are pleased to be helping to bolster testing capacity. My sincere thanks to everyone involved.”

Mr Jim Crombie, Deputy Chief Executive for NHS Lothian, said: “The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh was one of the first two national launch centres for Covid-19 PCR testing in Scotland earlier this year, and we have increased our test capacity considerably since then.

“The partnership with the University of Edinburgh enables us to increase capacity even further, which will support the Health Board’s requirements but also contribute to national COVID-19 virus test resilience.”

Professor Andrew Jackson, Medical Research Council funded scientist and academic lead for the WGH-IGMM facility said: “Opening this facility shows that research scientists can help deliver testing by the NHS for the NHS at a time of vital need.

“While based on a routine procedure in many research labs, it is complex to implement as a fully integrated end-to-end process. I am proud of many researchers and NHS lab colleagues who have made this possible, and who will help create other hybrid University-NHS labs across Scotland under the auspices of NHS Scotland.”