New Mobile Prototype of U of I's COVID-19 Testing Program
In response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed an innovative and comprehensive target, test, tell strategy to combat the pandemic, known as SHIELD.
"Starting from the testing system used on our campus, our team is looking at everything from supply chain challenges, to IT needs, to human factors, to waste stream management, and much more. The complexity of the effort is amazing, and the project represents the kind of innovative, translational research that The Grainger College of Engineering does so well."
--Rashid Bashir, Dean,
The Grainger College of Engineering
To bring this testing capability to more communities in Illinois and the nation, a team led by Grainger College of Engineering faculty recently launched a project to scale mobile COVID-19 testing laboratories.
Turnaround time is particularly important to effective contact tracing and quarantine. Once SHIELD was created, the next step was to duplicate testing capabilities so society can reopen to a fuller extent, not just the UIUC campus.
A solution was needed on how to translate this really novel technology, this test, and make it more accessible so that testing can be done on location–in hot spots or schools or localized communities, etc. This project is to take the SHIELD test and make it mobile. The first deployment of a lab in a mobile unit will be for Bloom Energy in California. More announcements about future deployments are expected soon.
"There is a need for a large number of these mobile units across the country and maybe even across the world. What we’re doing in this project is designing and demonstrating one of these units. By the end of this project, we should know what equipment you need to purchase, how you need to lay it out, how you need to staff the lab, how it would run, logistics of collecting specimens and getting them to the unit; as well as what comes out of the unit in terms of waste, how information flows, and all those things we think about as industrial engineers."
Professor Abigail Wooldridge, Project Lead
Abigail Wooldridge Shares Details on
Designing a Mobile Prototype Lab for
COVID-19 Testing
Contact us about the pilot mobile testing lab
"The mobile testing prototype is a shining example of the excellent and impactful research done in The Grainger College of Engineering. Prof. Wooldridge’s team is optimizing the logistics, processes, and procedures needed to convert a brick-and-mortar testing lab into a smaller, mobile platform that can then be replicated and rapidly deployed to hundreds of sites around the state and the country."
Harley Johnson, Associate Dean for Research, The Grainger College of Engineering
Expected Numbers for Mobile Testing Prototype Lab
Trailer
Tests a day
Hours
New mobile COVID-19 lab prototype completed
The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has completed the prototype for a mobile laboratory, called mobileSHIELD, designed to demonstrate a way to rapidly deploy I-COVID, the saliva-based test for COVID-19 developed at Illinois.
The University of Illinois COVID-19 testing plan is so aggressive that it accounts for 20% of the state's tests
The University of Illinois is requiring its students to be tested for COVID-19 twice a week, using rapid saliva tests developed by University researchers that provide results within hours.
Eight projects awarded funding for AI research to mitigate COVID-19
Eight University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign projects are among 26 to receive the first C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute awards for artificial intelligence techniques to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.
Belkin Works With The University Of Illinois On FlexVent™ Gas-Operated Ventilator In Response To The COVID-19 Crisis
Illinois RapidVent team are the experts who “guide the way” as Belkin announces they will produce at least 10,000 emergency ventilators based on the Illinois RapidVent design, pending FDA approval.
TEAM PARTNERS
Discovery Partners
Institute (DPI)
Worked to expand the testing of saliva-based COVID-19 that was pioneered by the University of Illinois researchers.
Health Care Engineering Systems Center (HCESC)
Department of Industrial & Enterprise Systems Engineering (ISE)
National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
Led data flow and IT for developing the LIMS (or LIS) for the lab and planning information flow from collection sites and out of the lab (e.g., to public health and others), etc.
SHIELD T3
SHIELD Illinois
A saliva testing program and infrastructure that deploys the University of Illinois’ innovative saliva test across the state.