How was TestCenter Denmark established very rapidly in spring 2020? What role did the Danish National Biobank play in establishing it? And what will TestCenter Denmark’s role be in connection with the impending vaccination of the population, which will apparently be rolled out shortly? You can get some of the answers to this in the Forskningsfortællinger podcast (in Danish), which this time visits Statens Serum Institut (SSI), at which both TestCenter Denmark and the Biobank are located.
In spring 2020, TestCenter Denmark opened its doors as the first laboratory that could test the population of Denmark for COVID-19. It is located at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, and since then TestCenter Denmark West has been added in Aarhus (article in Danish only).
When TestCenter Denmark opened in April 2020, the goal was to analyse 10,000 samples per day. Today, after TestCenter Denmark West has opened in Aarhus, the centres analyse about 100,000 samples per day, and capacity will be further expanded in the first quarter of 2021.
The Danish National Biobank is also located at Statens Serum Institut. Several Biobank employees played a key role in establishing TestCenter Denmark, and its construction benefitted from the Biobank’s extensive experience with fully automatic analysis of samples.
Guests
- Lasse Boding, Section Leader, Danish National Biobank
- Karina Meden Sørensen, Head of the Biobank Laboratory, Danish National Biobank
- Bartlomiej Wilkowski, IT Section Leader, Danish National Biobank
- Anne-Marie Vangsted, Director, TestCenter Denmark
