The spread of the SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic is driving an urgent need for extensive testing, including patients and health workers as a priority. The most sensitive and reliable method remains the RT-PCR molecular swab test but one challenge that still remains is to increase the throughput of the RNA extraction step in the process. Cytiva (formerly GE Healthcare LifeSciences) has developed Sera-Xtracta™Viral/Pathogen Kit which provides a highly automatable and sensitive extraction protocol, compatible with open system platforms and downstream RT-PCR processes.

Learning Objectives:

1. Current COVID-19 diagnostic technologies

2. Effective RNA extraction through magnetic bead technology 

3. Relevant performance data of magnetic bead extraction