Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Rapid Dx Laboratory, Ginkgo Bioworks Partner to Offer Pooled COVID Testing

  • By Matt Jones
  • 04/19/21

Rapid Dx Laboratory has announced a partnership with Concentric by Ginkgo to provide pooled COVID-19 testing to K–12 schools in both in-person and hybrid learning environments.

Rapid Dx Laboratory, a molecular diagnostics laboratory based in Houston, Texas, offers an average 12–16-hour turnaround for test results on thousands of samples per day. The lab has served private companies, long-term care facilities, underserved communities, and private schools and daycares during the last year. Concentric by Ginkgo, a public health and biosecurity program at Ginkgo Bioworks, has set the goal of providing pooled testing to every school in the U.S. It runs testing in more than 15 states and has partnered with more than 800 schools.

Rapid Dx Labs, Ginkgo Bioworks Partner

Pooled testing involves combining swabs from all consenting individuals in a single classroom and runs them as a single test. The process can increase the number of tests processed in a single go, and it also reduces the cost of the procedure for institutions.

“Rapid Dx Labs is incredibly honored to be partnered with Ginkgo Bioworks for such a historic effort,” said the Rapid Dx Founding Board members in a press release. “We need to prioritize children and their education, and we need to be taking any step that would help ensure a swift return to learning in person for our next generation. We must educate and highlight the importance of the role their participation in pooled classroom testing plays for the betterment of our future.”

“Pooled testing is a powerful testing modality for schools looking to operate in-person or hybrid learning environments,” said CEO and co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks Jason Kelly. “Having the ability to test every student, every week, means that a community can, in a data-driven way, build confidence around the mitigation strategies they’re using to interrupt viral transmission.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • Montclair State University Debuts New VR Facility

    Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J., recently announced the completion of a new virtual reality learning facility developed in partnership with Dreamscape Learn, according to a news release. The 2,450-square-foot lab space is inside the College of Communication and Media building and will serve students pursuing careers in digital media, virtual reality, and content creation.

  • California District Opens New Continuation High School

    The Fort Bragg Unified School District (FBUSD) in Fort Bragg, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Noyo High School, a continuation high school that provides alternative education options for students in grades 6–12, according to a news release. The district partnered with Quattrochi Kwok Architects for design and FRC Inc. for construction, and the project’s funding came from Local Bond Measure B.

  • DLR Group Hires Three for Higher Education Practice

    Integrated design firm DLR Group recently announced that it has brought three new hires on board to help shape its higher education practice in California and the northeast, according to a press release.