On Mar. 17, 2020, acting as Genomic First Responders, The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, is coordinating with the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) and others to combat COVID-19, using advanced biomedical technologies to help establish a statewide public health screening network.

TGen is working with federal, state and local governments, private healthcare providers and others to expand testing for the COVID-19 coronavirus in Arizona; part of a concerted effort to get out in front of this global health threat.

From Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff, TGen is receiving batches of patient respiratory samples in cases where other lung diseases have been ruled out. TGen is conducting rapid analysis of hundreds of samples per day to detect COVID-19, and any other virus, that may be circulating undetected in Arizona’s communities.

Arizona is among the first states in the nation to establish such a comprehensive public health testing program to: Determine how widespread COVID-19 is within Arizona; Identify emerging hotspots as they occur; and Assist in efforts to contain and prevent the disease.

TGen tests do not rely on, and therefore are not limited by the availability of, the federal government’s COVID-19 test kits. As a result, TGen has a much greater capacity to conduct COVID-19 testing. And because of its state-of-the-art laboratories and computer analysis, TGen can report back results in 24 hours to ADHS.