From research to rapid response: mass COVID-19 testing by volunteers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed and is continuously posing enormous societal and health challenges worldwide. The research community has mobilized to develop novel projects to find a cure or a vaccine, as well as to contribute to mass testing, which has been a critical measure to contain the infection in several countries. Through this article, we share our experiences and learnings as a group of volunteers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, Spain. As members of the ORFEU project, an initiative by the Government of Catalonia to achieve mass testing of people at risk and contain the epidemic in Spain, we share our motivations, challenges and the key lessons learnt, which we feel will help better prepare the global society to address similar situations in the future.The ORFEU program was created by the Catalan Enterprise and Knowledge Department with the Department of Health and funded by the Government of Catalonia, who trusted the expertise of research institutes to add value to the health system during the pandemic. We also extend our thanks to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to the EMBL partnership, the Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa, the CERCA Programme / Generalitat de Catalunya, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the Generalitat de Catalunya through Departament de Salut and Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement, and the co-financing by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MEIC) with funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) corresponding to the 2014-2020 Smart Growth Operating Program. We acknowledge support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, to the EMBL partnership and to the Co-financing with funds from the European Regional Development Fund corresponding to the Programa Operativo FEDER Plurirregional de España (POPE) 2014-2020. We acknowledge also support of the Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa and the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Programme, through Departament de Salut and Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement and the Co-financing with funds from the European Regional Development Fund by the Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca corresponding to the Programa Operatiu FEDER de Catalunya 2014-202