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(Photography by YMG All Media reporters Gao Shaoshuai and Yi Yulin)

The current round of the new crown epidemic has brought a considerable impact on the normal operation of Yantai, a coastal city, and the lives of its citizens.

At the critical moment, the municipal party committee and the municipal government made important decisions and deployments: nucleic acid testing of all staff, and thorough investigation of potential virus transmission hidden dangers.

Millions of people completed a round of nucleic acid testing within 24 hours. For a time, "fully armed" sampling medical staff carried out sample collection work between various nucleic acid sampling points. The sweaty shots and the busy figures moved everyone in the city. Among these tireless anti-epidemic workers, there is also a group of people who are engaged in nucleic acid testing. They silently stick to the laboratory 24 hours a day and make selfless dedication to the city. This group of people is the staff of nucleic acid testing institutions.

What little-known stories have they experienced during the epidemic? On August 13, the reporter walked into Tianren Medical Laboratory of Shandong Oriental Ocean Technology Co., Ltd. and Aveco Biotechnology Co., Ltd. to visit the daily life of the "poison hunters".

around the clock

race against the virus

"The race against the virus every day!"

In the Tianren Medical Laboratory in the Oriental Ocean Precision Medical Science and Technology Park, Laishan District, the first words of the general manager Liu Xinhe made the reporters feel their busy work.

Founded in 2017, Tenren Medical Testing Laboratory Co., Ltd. has a medical testing laboratory of 3,000 square meters. It is a medical institution specializing in third-party medical testing services. Since the outbreak of the new coronavirus in 2020, Tenren Medical Laboratory has been selected as the first batch of medical and health institutions with new coronavirus nucleic acid detection capabilities announced by Shandong Province and a third-party medical laboratory for new coronavirus nucleic acid detection in Yantai, and continues to carry out nucleic acid testing and testing. Antibody testing services.

In this round of epidemic, Tenren Medical Laboratory has completed nearly 500,000 nucleic acid sample tests, and the maximum number of samples tested in 24 hours can reach 18,000. "26 testing personnel work in two shifts around the clock. The sooner the results are released, the sooner hidden dangers can be eliminated. This is our mission." Liu Xinhe said.

"Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia at the beginning of last year, we have participated in the work of nucleic acid detection of the new crown virus." Liu Xinhe said that after continuous experience and improvement, the time from receiving the specimen to generating the test report has been shortened to about 2.5 hours. "More importantly, the testing and experimental team has established stronger confidence with professional technical standards and accumulated experience in actual combat, and is busy but not chaotic in the face of pressure, which provides an important guarantee for the smooth progress of this round of testing tasks." Liu Xinhe told reporters.

overcome difficulties

Body and mind stand the test

Nucleic acid testing is not only technical and physical work, but also a physical and mental test for the staff involved in the testing. In the Tianren Medical Laboratory, the reporter saw that nucleic acid detection is roughly divided into four work areas according to the process: sample reception and information entry area, reagent preparation area, specimen preparation area and gene amplification area.

Putting on protective equipment, the reporter came to the outer corridor of the PCR laboratory to observe the nucleic acid detection process through the window. Hats, medical N95 masks, protective clothing, shoe covers, goggles, latex gloves... The testing personnel are fully equipped to start nucleic acid testing.

The nucleic acid detection process includes operations such as reagent preparation, nucleic acid extraction, and nucleic acid amplification. In these steps, most of the work requires laboratory personnel in protective clothing to put their hands into the biological safety cabinet to operate. "Add the sample to a palm-sized amplification plate with 96 wells, and each experimenter has to work for up to 4-5 hours, maintaining the same posture, waving the arms constantly, one shift, neck and shoulder, Arms, back and waist will be very sore." Liu Xinhe said.

For testing experimenters, in addition to passing the physical test, they also need to experience the psychological test.

Sample preparation is the most critical step in the entire test, and it is also the most dangerous step, because there may be "positive" samples of the new coronavirus, and all operations must be carried out in strict accordance with the operating specifications.

In order to defeat the epidemic as soon as possible, all personnel are racing against time. Behind this is the selfless persistence and silent dedication of nucleic acid testing personnel. "The greatest sense of achievement is to complete the nucleic acid testing task." Liu Xinhe said with emotion, "The results of the two rounds of nucleic acid testing for all employees were negative, and now many communities have been unblocked one after another. For us who participated in the nucleic acid testing work It is also very gratifying, and I feel that all the hard work and hard work are very worth it!”

The future can be expected

New crown antibody detection kit is about to be put into production

In the face of the fight against the epidemic, Oriental Ocean's social responsibility as an enterprise is not only reflected in the mission of nucleic acid testing, but its scientific research team is also contributing to the anti-epidemic work of the city, the province and the whole country through day and night technical research.

During an interview in the Oriental Ocean Precision Medical Technology Park, Wang Feng, the executive deputy general manager of Aveco Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oriental Ocean, revealed to the reporter exciting news that the company's new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) IgM /IgG antibody detection kit (colloidal gold method) has recently officially obtained the medical device registration certificate issued by the State Drug Administration. "Now we are fully preparing for production, and it is expected to be officially put into production next month." Wang Feng said with confidence.

What is the magic of the new crown antibody detection kit, and what benefits can it bring to the fight against the new crown epidemic? In this regard, Wang Feng said that this new crown antibody detection kit is a supplementary detection indicator for suspected cases with negative new coronavirus detection or used in conjunction with nucleic acid detection in the diagnosis of suspected cases.

The advantages of this test kit include: both serum or plasma samples can be used for detection, and the detection of IgM and IgG in the sample to be tested can be performed at the same time. "The most important thing is that the test results can be generated within 15 minutes, which can realize instant detection." Wang Feng said that the operation of this kit is simple and does not require the help of instruments. "And the results are clear and easy to interpret."

In April 2020, Aveco Bio entered the "white list" of the Ministry of Commerce's new coronavirus detection reagent manufacturing enterprises for export, and obtained EU access qualification for the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) IgG/IgM antibody detection kit (colloidal gold method) And the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) antigen detection kit (colloidal gold method) has been mass-produced and exported to Europe, America and other countries and regions.

Wang Feng is confident about the future production of testing reagents. At present, the company has 2,000 square meters of GMP clean workshop, including 10,000-level production area, 100,000-level production area and general control area, built 400 square meters of quality inspection laboratory and research and development laboratory, and has passed ISO13485 system certification. "We will start production as soon as possible. As a local enterprise in Yantai, we are always ready to contribute to the epidemic and move forward bravely." Wang Feng said.