Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 22, 2025
Integration of Wet and Dry Bench Processes Optimizes Targeted Next-generation Sequencing of Low-quality and Low-quantity Tumor Biopsies
Published on: April 11, 2016
Lean Principles to Improve Quality in High-Throughput COVID-19 Testing Using SwabSeq: A Barcoded Sequencing-Based
Janae Jones1,2, Rosita Saul1,2, Laila Sathe2,3
1Department of Computational Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, US.
Objective:
To describe and quantify the effect of quality control (QC) metrics to increase testing efficiency in a high-complexity, Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-certified laboratory that uses amplicon-based, next generation sequencing for the clinical detection of SARS-CoV-2. To enable rapid scalability to several thousands of specimens per day without fully automated platforms, we developed internal QC methods to ensure high-accuracy testing.
Methods:
We implemented procedures to increase efficiency by applying the Lean Six Sigma model into our sequencing-based COVID-19 detection.
Results:
The application of the Lean Six Sigma model increased laboratory efficiency by reducing errors, allowing for a higher testing volume to be met with minimal staffing. Furthermore, these improvements resulted in an improved turnaround time.
Conclusion:
Lean Six Sigma model execution has increased laboratory efficiency by decreasing critical testing errors and has prepared the laboratory for future scaling up to 50,000 tests per day.
