MassMark: A Highly Scalable Multiplex NGS-based Method for High-Throughput, Accurate and Sensitive Detection of SARS-CoV-2 for Mass Testing

Abstract

Mass testing has been proposed as a strategy to address and contain the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic1,2. We have developed MassMark, a novel and highly scalable multiplex method that employs next generation sequencing for high-throughput, accurate and sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2, while minimizing handling complexity and resources by utilizing a serial pooling strategy to accommodate over 9,000 samples per workflow. Analytical validation showed that MassMark was able to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA down to a level of 100 copies per reaction. We evaluated the clinical performance of MassMark in a simulated screening testing with 22 characterized samples from three different sources (nasopharyngeal swabs, nasal swabs and saliva), comprising of 12 SARS-CoV-2 positive samples with mid to late Ct values (range: 22.98-32.72) and 10 negative samples. There was one false negative and no false positives, giving an overall sensitivity and specificity of 91.67% and 100% respectively, when compared against an optimized RT-PCR test with a target size within 70 bp (CDC 2019-nCoV Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel3).