A Semi-Automated Tuberculosis Testing Workflow Reduces Manual Hazardous Sample Handling and Hands-On Time: A Proof-of-Concept Study.

A central tenet of good diagnostic laboratory practice is protecting laboratory staff from contact with sample-borne pathogens and dangerous chemicals. Automated sample-processing systems can reduce or eliminate the risk of exposure to infectious samples while providing results on par with, or better than, those from manually processed samples. In addition, hands-free automated processing may enable analysts to focus on higher order activities while eliminating the risk of repetitive strain injuries associated with manual pipetting. Here, we describe a semi-automated tuberculosis interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) workflow that includes an automated high-throughput sample-processing system. The system automates cap removal, automates sample mixing and aspiration of blood from lithium heparin collection tubes, and aliquots blood samples into multiple blood assay tubes for downstream testing without manual intervention. We show that automated results are comparable to manual methods without risk of analyst exposure or repetitive strain injury.