CCL study published in Nature Journal

A research study that Cambridge Clinical Laboratories contributed to has been published by Nature Journal, with both CEO Dr Tony Cooke, and Clinical Laboratory Manager, Mike Morel being cited. 

CCL was a partner lab to Owlstone medical in the assessment of the use of their medical face mask devices for the collection of Covid-19 samples.

Testing for SARS-CoV-2, using face mask filters and nasopharyngeal swabs collected from hospitalised Covid-19 patients, showed that filter samples offered reduced sensitivity (8.5% compared to nasopharyngeal swabs). The low concordance of SARS-CoV-2 detection between filters and nasopharyngeal swabs indicated that number of viral particles collected on the face mask filter was below the limit of detection for all patients but those with the highest viral loads. This indicated face masks are unsuitable to replace diagnostic nasopharyngeal swabs in Covid-19 diagnosis.

Mike Morel, Clinical Laboratory Manager, said: “This demonstrates how CCL continues to deliver high quality results for our partners and a world class service. I am incredibly proud that work we have supported has been published in such a prestigious journal. We have worked incredibly hard supporting the pandemic since March 2020, this is part of the work we continue to do and will further academic knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics.”

Read the article here: Nature Journal