F1000Research 2020, 9:1336 Last updated: 20 AUG 2021 OPINION ARTICLE From research to rapid response: mass COVID-19 testing by volunteers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation [version 1; peer review: 1 approved] Ritobrata Ghose 1,2, Álvaro Aranguren-Ibáñez1, Niccolò Arecco 1, Diego Balboa1, Marc Bataller1, Sergi Beltran3, Hannah Benisty1, Angèle Bénard 1, Edgar Bernardo1, Sílvia Carbonell Sala1, Eloi Casals3, Ludovica Ciampi 1, Livia Condemi1, Alberto Corvó 3, Marta Cosín-Tomás1,4,5, Mirabai Cuenca-Ardura1, Juan Manuel Duran Serrano1, María Isabel Espejo Díaz1, Marcos Fernandez Callejo3, Antoni Gañez-Zapater1, Raquel Garcia-Castellanos1, Romina Garrido 1, Gil Henkin1, Toni Hermoso Pulido 1, Xavier Hernandez-Alias 1, Jorge Herrero Vicente 1, Matthew Ingham3, Wei Ming Lim1, Sílvia Llonch 1, Elena Marmesat Bertoli3, Irene Miguel-Escalada1, Ariadna Montero-Blay1, Cristina Navarrete Hernández1, Maria Victoria Neguembor 1, Róisín-Ana Ní Chárthaigh1, Natalia Pardo-Lorente 1, Laura Pascual-Reguant1, Sílvia Pérez-Lluch1, Reyes Perza 1, Martina Pesaresi1, Daniel Picó Amador3, Paula Pifarré 1, Davide Piscia3, Marcos Plana-Carmona 1, Julia Ponomarenko1, Leandro Radusky1, Ezequiel Rivero1, Malgorzata Rogalska 1, Guillem Torcal Garcia 1, José Wojnacki1 1Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Dr. Aiguader 88, Barcelona, 08003, Spain 2Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, 08005, Spain 3CNAG‐CRG, Centre for Genomic Regulation, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Baldiri Reixac 4, Barcelona, 08028, Spain 4ISGlobal, Barcelona, 08036, Spain 5CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Barcelona, 08023, Spain v1 First published: 16 Nov 2020, 9:1336 Open Peer Review https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.27497.1 Latest published: 16 Nov 2020, 9:1336 https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.27497.1 Reviewer Status Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has posed and is continuously posing enormous societal and health challenges worldwide. The research community has mobilized to develop novel projects to find a cure or a vaccine, as well as to contribute to mass testing, which has been a Page 1 of 10 F1000Research 2020, 9:1336 Last updated: 20 AUG 2021 critical measure to contain the infection in several countries. Through this article, we share our experiences and learnings as a group of Invited Reviewers volunteers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, Spain. As members of the ORFEU project, an initiative by the 1 Government of Catalonia to achieve mass testing of people at risk and contain the epidemic in Spain, we share our motivations, challenges version 1 and the key lessons learnt, which we feel will help better prepare the 16 Nov 2020 report global society to address similar situations in the future. Keywords 1. Ricardo Leite , Instituto Gulbenkian de COVID-19 testing, volunteers, health, collaboration Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal Any reports and responses or comments on the article can be found at the end of the article. This article is included in the Disease Outbreaks gateway. This article is included in the Coronavirus collection. Page 2 of 10 F1000Research 2020, 9:1336 Last updated: 20 AUG 2021 Corresponding author: Ritobrata Ghose ([email protected]) Author roles: Ghose R: Investigation, Writing – Original Draft Preparation; Aranguren-Ibáñez Á: Investigation, Visualization, Writing – Review & Editing; Arecco N: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Balboa D: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Bataller M: Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing; Beltran S: Software, Writing – Review & Editing; Benisty H: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Bénard A: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Bernardo E: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Carbonell Sala S: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Casals E: Software, Writing – Review & Editing; Ciampi L: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Condemi L: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Corvó A: Software, Writing – Review & Editing; Cosín-Tomás M: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Cuenca-Ardura M: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Duran Serrano JM: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Espejo Díaz MI: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Fernandez Callejo M: Software, Writing – Review & Editing; Gañez-Zapater A: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Garcia-Castellanos R: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Garrido R: Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing; Henkin G: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Hermoso Pulido T: Software, Writing – Review & Editing; Hernandez-Alias X: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Herrero Vicente J: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Ingham M: Software, Writing – Review & Editing; Lim WM: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Llonch S: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Marmesat Bertoli E: Software, Writing – Review & Editing; Miguel-Escalada I: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Montero-Blay A: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Navarrete Hernández C: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Neguembor MV: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Ní Chárthaigh RA: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Pardo-Lorente N: Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing; Pascual-Reguant L: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Pérez-Lluch S: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Perza R: Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing; Pesaresi M: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Picó Amador D: Software, Writing – Review & Editing; Pifarré P: Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing; Piscia D: Software, Writing – Review & Editing; Plana-Carmona M: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Ponomarenko J: Software, Writing – Review & Editing; Radusky L: Software, Writing – Review & Editing; Rivero E: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Rogalska M: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Torcal Garcia G: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing; Wojnacki J: Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing Competing interests: No competing interests were disclosed. Grant information: The ORFEU program was created by the Catalan Enterprise and Knowledge Department with the Department of Health and funded by the Government of Catalonia, who trusted the expertise of research institutes to add value to the health system during the pandemic. We also extend our thanks to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to the EMBL partnership, the Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa, the CERCA Programme / Generalitat de Catalunya, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the Generalitat de Catalunya through Departament de Salut and Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement, and the co-financing by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MEIC) with funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) corresponding to the 2014-2020 Smart Growth Operating Program. We acknowledge support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, to the EMBL partnership and to the Co-financing with funds from the European Regional Development Fund corresponding to the Programa Operativo FEDER Plurirregional de España (POPE) 2014-2020. We acknowledge also support of the Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa and the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Programme, through Departament de Salut and Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement and the Co-financing with funds from the European Regional Development Fund by the Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca corresponding to the Programa Operatiu FEDER de Catalunya 2014-2020. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Copyright: © 2020 Ghose R et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. How to cite this article: Ghose R, Aranguren-Ibáñez Á, Arecco N et al. From research to rapid response: mass COVID-19 testing by volunteers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation [version 1; peer review: 1 approved] F1000Research 2020, 9:1336 https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.27497.1 First published: 16 Nov 2020, 9:1336 https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.27497.1 Page 3 of 10 F1000Research 2020, 9:1336 Last updated: 20 AUG 2021 Introduction: CRG in Orpheus’ shoes diagnostic centre for COVID-19 so that other global institutes The recent turn of events worldwide, brought on by the severe may benefit from our experience. acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that uprooted the world of all normality, presented a tremendous chal- The motivation lenge. In tragic unison, COVID-19 became the viper to humanity’s “Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. We saw Eurydice, and the world of researchers and medics, her Orpheus, a need that needed to be filled and we stepped in to help.” - in our attempt to revive and reset. With a name inspired by this Benet Wilson mythological allegory, the Catalan government launched the ‘ORFEU’ project – a mass testing initiative to identify infected The motivations of all the volunteers were diverse. While for individuals – in an attempt to reduce infection rates and facili- some it was curiosity to better understand the on-ground scene, tate an easier