28 September 2021 The journey of “The Beast” is published Back to news Researchers from the Hubrecht Institute, Genmab and many other parties have published the developmental journey and protocols of the STRIP-1 test robot in Nature Biotechnology. One robot can process up to 14.000 samples per day for SARS-CoV-2 testing, at less than 10€ per test, which can save tens of millions on testing in the Netherlands. The Dutch government has ordered five additional STRIP-robots for use in the current pandemic and future pandemics. The protocols for the development of the robot have been made accessible worldwide for everyone who is interested. The robot is a product of a unique collaboration between the academic and industry world, for which all parties (among others Hubrecht Institute, Genmab, PAMM Veldhoven, Sanquin, Bodegro) joined forces without thinking about profit or contracts, purely based on mutual trust and a desire to help society. The first robot was validated in January and is currently used for large scale testing for SARS-CoV-2. The six STRIP-robots together are not only useful for the current COVID-19 pandemic, but can also be used for future pandemics because of their modular nature. This will enable large scale testing right at the start of a future pandemic, without being a burden on regular diagnostic centers. More information on the development of STRIP1 can be read here. Available around the world The STRIP1-robot was already announced to the public early in 2021, but the inventors now published the way the robot came to be, in Nature Biotechnology. In addition, all protocols for the development of the robot have been made available for researchers around the world. *** Publication Peter H L Krijger*, Tim A Hoek*, Sanne Boersma, Lieke I P M Donders, Maaike M C Broeders, Mark Pieterse , Pim W Toonen, Ive Logister, Bram M P Verhagen, Marjon J A M Verstegen, Thomas W van Ravesteyn, Rene J T M Roymans, Francesca Mattiroli, Jo Vandesompele, Monique Nijhuis, Stefan Meijer, Anton van Weert, Edwin Dekker, Fred J Dom, Rob Ruijtenbeek, Lieven B J van der Velden#, Jeroen H B van de Bovenkamp, Martijn Bosch#, Wouter de Laat# & Marvin E Tanenbaum#. A public-private partnership model for COVID-19 diagnostics. Nature Biotechnology, 2021. *These authors contributed equally #These senior authors contributed equally
