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Ginkgo Bioworks, Olive Labs, CQuentia to Provide SARS-CoV-2 Pooled Testing in K-12 Schools

The story has been updated to include a deal between CQuentia and Ginkgo Bioworks.

NEW YORK – Olive Labs announced on Tuesday that it is partnering with Ginkgo Bioworks to provide pooled SARS-CoV-2 testing for K-12 schools.

Separately, CQuentia announced a similar deal with Ginkgo. 

Ginkgo's public health and biosecurity effort Concentric by Ginkgo is working to provide pooled testing to schools across the US offering some form of in-person learning. It is currently running testing in more than 15 states with 800 schools signed up, Olive Labs said in a statement. 

Samples will be collected from all consenting people in a classroom and run as a single test to increase testing capacity and lower costs. Ferndale, Michigan-based Olive Labs will perform the PCR testing and currently has a turnaround time of 24 hours, it said. The laboratory has scaled its testing equipment and has the capacity to "potentially test all the schools" in Michigan, it added.

CQuentia, based in Fort Worth, Texas said it and Ginkgo will provide pooled testing "to serve communities across the country working to establish in-person learning in their schools.'

The partnerships come after the Biden administration announced earlier this month it is providing $10 billion to support school testing. Ginkgo also said last week it is partnering with Dascena Labs to provide school testing.   

Last week, the Rockefeller Foundation announced an initiative with 21 testing manufacturers, including Ginkgo, to guide schools on providing SARS-CoV-2 testing.