Bode Technology Announces Partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks to Scale COVID Response through Pooled Testing in K-12 Schools

LORTON, Va., April 1, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Bode Technology, a leading provider of laboratory testing services, has partnered with Concentric by Ginkgo to provide a scalable and simple testing modality - pooled testing - to serve schools engaging in hybrid or in-person learning. Concentric by Ginkgo is the public health and biosecurity effort at Ginkgo Bioworks, the organism company. Concentric by Ginkgo's pool testing service provides a scalable program for testing school communities, enabling quick action to help protect students and educators. Bode has partnered with Ginkgo to immediately offer this service.

Concentric by Ginkgo's goal is to provide simple, affordable pooled testing to every school in America. Pooled classroom testing, which combines swabs from all consenting individuals in a classroom and runs them as a single test, can significantly increase testing capacity and lower the cost of testing programs.

As teachers and guardians become eligible for vaccines and clinical vaccine trials for individuals under 16 are just beginning, efforts to track and mitigate viral spread remain critical. With schools working to return to in-person learning across the country, communities are turning to pooled COVID-19 testing to monitor the virus. This partnership will support this access to pooled testing.

"We are incredibly proud of the opportunity to support our children and our educators in the effort to return to school. We have quickly adapted our operations to meet the needs of our community," said Mike Cariola, President and CEO at Bode. "The ability to test entire classrooms and school systems, with quickly reported results, is a logical expansion to our mission of improving public health."

Bode reconfigured their Virginia-based laboratory to enable staff to perform high-volume COVID-19 testing. Through this effort, thousands of tests were provided to local universities, helping students and staff return to school. Additionally, Bode's services have been utilized by first-responders and public-safety organizations throughout the country.

"As we phase back into in-person learning, pooled testing will be a critical tool for school communities to make data-driven decisions," said Jason Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks. "Our work with the hundreds and hundreds of schools we serve has been so meaningful to our whole team, which has built this incredible capacity to test every student, every week. As educational systems put their allocations from the American Rescue Plan to use in this national effort, we're proud to offer an integrated testing solution that any school community in America can put to use right away."

To learn more about Concentric by Ginkgo or to get your school district involved, head over to concentricbyginkgo.com.

About Bode Technology

Bode has operated one of the most internationally respected private DNA laboratories and provides a comprehensive suite of DNA analysis services, and research services around the world for more than 25 years. Bode's laboratory is staffed with more than 150 scientists and is CLIA certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for the purpose of providing diagnostic testing. Bode is also accredited by ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for Forensic Testing and Calibration Laboratories as well as the FBI Quality Assurance Standards for Forensic DNA Testing Laboratories and DNA Databasing Laboratories. In addition, Bode is AABB certified for relationship testing and has been certified by many states that required individual certifications including Texas, New York and Maryland.

About Concentric by Ginkgo

Concentric by Ginkgo is Ginkgo Bioworks' public health and biosecurity effort. Headquartered in Boston, Ginkgo uses the most advanced technology on the planet—biology—to grow better products. The company's cell programming platform is enabling the growth of biotechnology across diverse markets, from food to fragrance to pharmaceuticals. Ginkgo is also actively supporting a number of COVID-19 response efforts, including community testing, epidemiological tracing, vaccine development and therapeutics discovery. For more information, visit http://www.ginkgobioworks.com.

Media Contact
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Media Contact

Andrew Singer, Bode Technology, +1 703.646.9888, [email protected]

Media Contact, Ginkgo Bioworks, [email protected]

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SOURCE Bode Technology