With "Bio.Kitchen", UnternehmerTUM launched Germany's first publicly accessible biotech lab under the leadership of biohacker Rüdiger Trojok in 2018. Now the team is engaging in Ghana with a mobile lab to promote local production of newly developed COVID-19 RNA rapid tests, create jobs and pave the way for commercial production.
Coronavirus continues to spread in the northern hemisphere. How can we help protect the African continent? Because too few in-country tests are available, Covid 19 cases in Ghana are difficult to detect, and the pandemic is spreading unchecked at a high rate of unreported cases. The experience of other countries has long since shown that area-wide testing enables effective control of the pandemic.
In Ghana, PCR tests and the necessary materials are simply too expensive, and the infrastructure is also lacking. Bio.Kitchen aims to remedy this situation with an innovative concept: A mobile laboratory together with materials, protective clothing and a system for documentation should make it possible to set up production facilities. This is easy to transport, ready for use within just 24 hours, and can perform over 500 Covid 19 tests a day. Laboratory specialists are trained for this directly on site and in turn pass on their knowledge.
LAMP test costs only one-sixth of PCR test
The project was launched in May 2021 in cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH as part of the develoPPP.de funding program of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The aim was to develop a low-cost test alternative for the Ghanaian market. To this end, researchers at the Technical University of Munich developed a test based on RT-LAMP technology (Reverse Transcription Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification). Like the established RT-PCR test (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction), LAMP detects the RNA of viruses in human saliva samples, but is faster, easier to evaluate and less expensive, with comparable accuracy. No expensive high-tech equipment is required for test evaluation, and processing time is 1.5 hours, about one-third of the evaluation time of a PCR test - at less than half the cost. Also, the LAMP test is estimated to cost only one-sixth of the PCR test.
We want to enable commercial production of RT-LAMP technology in Ghana and reduce dependence on expensive and globally scarce test materials.
Rüdiger Trojok, Laboratory Lead Bio.Kitchen
To this end, 120 laboratory professionals at around 50 facilities throughout Ghana are receiving training in correct sample collection and LAMP-PCR testing. A mobile laboratory specially assembled for the project - equipped with devices and materials for sample collection, testing and diagnosis - enables the laboratory professionals to work successfully with the new technology right from the start. The lab furniture was designed and handcrafted by UnternehmerTUM's high-tech workshop "MakerSpace" specifically for field use. In addition, a fully equipped pilot plant is being established with local partners for the production of test reagents and for quality assurance along the production line of RT-LAMP test kits.
Bio.Kitchen has also designed virtual training materials and has been training on-site laboratory professionals since mid-2021. The project will be handed over to local partners by April 2022.
Future adaptation of tests possible
Bio.Kitchen's LAMP technology provides the tools to contain future epidemic and pandemic outbreaks - because it can be quickly and easily adapted and used for emerging or existing viral and bacterial infections. Thus, spread can be prevented at an early stage without being dependent on importing kits and reagents.
Expansion of LAMP-PCR training with the mobile lab for other countries is already being planned.
About Bio.Kitchen
The Bio.Kitchen offers the life science community, corporate innovators and start-ups a platform for free experimentation. And what's more, the "Bio.Kitchen" aims to help fight bacterial diseases without antibiotics - while complying with adequate protective measures of legal safety standards for level one laboratories.
