WCM-Rutgers NJMS CTU Supplement for COVID Testing

ABSTRACTThe Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) Clinical Research Site (CRS) 31786 isrequesting $300,000 in funding to help support Severe Acute Respiratory Distress SyndromeCoronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing. The CRS is part of the Weill Cornell-Rutgers NJMSClinical Trials Unit and has been a site for two Division of AIDS (DAIDS) funded clinical trialsnetworks: AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) forfifteen years.The program plans to provide SARS-CoV-2 testing by leveraging its existing relationships withthe local community and partnering with the clinical laboratory located at Public HealthResearch Institute (PHRI), also a Rutgers facility to perform SARS-CoV-2 testing using theCepheid testing platform. The Cepheid COVID-19 testing platform has been developed at PHRIwith Cepheid and is one of the most sensitive tests currently available to detect SARS-Co-V 2infection.We will provide SARS-CoV-2 testing at the CRS, in an adjacent building and on a mobile van.These testing locations are well-known and easily accessible to the community, healthcareworkers and other high-risk groups. We will also attempt to ensure that special populations suchas minorities and the LGBTQ community have access to the test. Finally, this will help the CRSfurther strengthen its relationship with the community and allow the unit to provide an essentialservice to this hard-hit community.If funded, this project will allow us to rapidly increase the availability of SARS CoV-2 testing andhelp contribute to the urgent need for additional COVID testing in an underserved communitylocated near the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.