BURLINGTON, Massachusetts—Northeastern’s Life Sciences Testing Center, a brand-new, state-of-the-art laboratory built to support the university’s testing protocols in the fall, has received state and federal certifications to conduct the complex molecular diagnostic tests that can determine whether someone has been infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The new laboratory is now ready to play a key role in the university’s plan to move ahead with its reopening and promote the safety of the Boston campus and its surrounding communities by supporting the testing of students, faculty, and staff in the fall.
The lab, located on Northeastern’s Innovation Campus in Burlington, Massachusetts, is expected to begin small-scale sample processing of coronavirus tests from the Boston campus as early as Monday, Aug. 10, and will be running seven days a week and 12 hours a day to support the university’s testing protocols, which will begin on Aug. 17, said Jared Auclair, an associate teaching professor of biotechnology and lead of the new testing center.
In recent days, the lab has been inspected by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and acquired Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments certification to conduct diagnostic tests on samples from people that can determine whether someone has been infected with SARS-CoV-2.
