Laboratory-Generated DNA Can Cause Anomalous Pathogen Diagnostic Test Results
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought about the unprecedented expansion of highly sensitive molecular diagnostics as a primary infection control strategy. At the same time, many laboratories have shifted focus to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) res...
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| Format: | Article |
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American Society for Microbiology
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131289 |
| _version_ | 1811088037475516416 |
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| author | Robinson-McCarthy, Lindsey R. Mijalis, Alexander J. Filsinger, Gabriel T. de Puig Guixe, Helena Donghia, Nina M. Schaus, Thomas E. Rasmussen, Robert A. Ferreira, Raphael Lunshof, Jeantine E. Chao, George Ter-Ovanesyan, Dmitry Dodd, Oliver Kuru, Erkin Sesay, Adama M. Rainbow, Joshua Pawlowski, Andrew C. Wannier, Timothy M. Angenent-Mari, Nicolaas M. Najjar, Devora Yin, Peng Ingber, Donald E. Tam, Jenny M. Church, George M. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Medical Engineering & Science |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Medical Engineering & Science Robinson-McCarthy, Lindsey R. Mijalis, Alexander J. Filsinger, Gabriel T. de Puig Guixe, Helena Donghia, Nina M. Schaus, Thomas E. Rasmussen, Robert A. Ferreira, Raphael Lunshof, Jeantine E. Chao, George Ter-Ovanesyan, Dmitry Dodd, Oliver Kuru, Erkin Sesay, Adama M. Rainbow, Joshua Pawlowski, Andrew C. Wannier, Timothy M. Angenent-Mari, Nicolaas M. Najjar, Devora Yin, Peng Ingber, Donald E. Tam, Jenny M. Church, George M. |
| author_sort | Robinson-McCarthy, Lindsey R. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought about the unprecedented expansion of highly sensitive molecular diagnostics as a primary infection control strategy. At the same time, many laboratories have shifted focus to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) research and diagnostic development, leading to large-scale production of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acids that can interfere with these tests. We have identified multiple instances, in independent laboratories, in which nucleic acids generated in research settings are suspected to have caused researchers to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 in surveillance testing. In some cases, the affected individuals did not work directly with these nucleic acids but were exposed via a contaminated surface or object. Though researchers have long been vigilant of DNA contaminants, the transfer of these contaminants to SARS-CoV-2 testing samples can result in anomalous test results. The impact of these incidents stretches into the public sphere, placing additional burdens on public health resources, placing affected researchers and their contacts in isolation and quarantine, removing them from the testing pool for 3 months, and carrying the potential to trigger shutdowns of classrooms and workplaces. We report our observations as a call for increased stewardship over nucleic acids with the potential to impact both the use and development of diagnostics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:55:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/131289 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:55:16Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1312892022-09-28T17:04:32Z Laboratory-Generated DNA Can Cause Anomalous Pathogen Diagnostic Test Results Robinson-McCarthy, Lindsey R. Mijalis, Alexander J. Filsinger, Gabriel T. de Puig Guixe, Helena Donghia, Nina M. Schaus, Thomas E. Rasmussen, Robert A. Ferreira, Raphael Lunshof, Jeantine E. Chao, George Ter-Ovanesyan, Dmitry Dodd, Oliver Kuru, Erkin Sesay, Adama M. Rainbow, Joshua Pawlowski, Andrew C. Wannier, Timothy M. Angenent-Mari, Nicolaas M. Najjar, Devora Yin, Peng Ingber, Donald E. Tam, Jenny M. Church, George M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Medical Engineering & Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media Laboratory The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought about the unprecedented expansion of highly sensitive molecular diagnostics as a primary infection control strategy. At the same time, many laboratories have shifted focus to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) research and diagnostic development, leading to large-scale production of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acids that can interfere with these tests. We have identified multiple instances, in independent laboratories, in which nucleic acids generated in research settings are suspected to have caused researchers to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 in surveillance testing. In some cases, the affected individuals did not work directly with these nucleic acids but were exposed via a contaminated surface or object. Though researchers have long been vigilant of DNA contaminants, the transfer of these contaminants to SARS-CoV-2 testing samples can result in anomalous test results. The impact of these incidents stretches into the public sphere, placing additional burdens on public health resources, placing affected researchers and their contacts in isolation and quarantine, removing them from the testing pool for 3 months, and carrying the potential to trigger shutdowns of classrooms and workplaces. We report our observations as a call for increased stewardship over nucleic acids with the potential to impact both the use and development of diagnostics. 2021-09-17T14:43:59Z 2021-09-17T14:43:59Z 2021-09 2021-05 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2165-0497 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131289 Robinson-McCarthy, Lindsey R. et al. "Laboratory-Generated DNA Can Cause Anomalous Pathogen Diagnostic Test Results." Microbiology Spectrum 9, 2 (October 2021): e00313-21. © 2021 Robinson-McCarthy et al http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.00313-21 Microbiology Spectrum Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf American Society for Microbiology American Society for Microbiology |
| spellingShingle | Robinson-McCarthy, Lindsey R. Mijalis, Alexander J. Filsinger, Gabriel T. de Puig Guixe, Helena Donghia, Nina M. Schaus, Thomas E. Rasmussen, Robert A. Ferreira, Raphael Lunshof, Jeantine E. Chao, George Ter-Ovanesyan, Dmitry Dodd, Oliver Kuru, Erkin Sesay, Adama M. Rainbow, Joshua Pawlowski, Andrew C. Wannier, Timothy M. Angenent-Mari, Nicolaas M. Najjar, Devora Yin, Peng Ingber, Donald E. Tam, Jenny M. Church, George M. Laboratory-Generated DNA Can Cause Anomalous Pathogen Diagnostic Test Results |
| title | Laboratory-Generated DNA Can Cause Anomalous Pathogen Diagnostic Test Results |
| title_full | Laboratory-Generated DNA Can Cause Anomalous Pathogen Diagnostic Test Results |
| title_fullStr | Laboratory-Generated DNA Can Cause Anomalous Pathogen Diagnostic Test Results |
| title_full_unstemmed | Laboratory-Generated DNA Can Cause Anomalous Pathogen Diagnostic Test Results |
| title_short | Laboratory-Generated DNA Can Cause Anomalous Pathogen Diagnostic Test Results |
| title_sort | laboratory generated dna can cause anomalous pathogen diagnostic test results |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131289 |
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