NxGen MDx Announces Partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks to Scale COVID Response through Pooled Testing in K-12 Schools

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., April 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, NxGen MDx announced a partnership with Concentric by Ginkgo to provide COVID-19 testing to congregate settings such as schools operating in-person or hybrid learning environments using a scalable and simple testing modality - pooled testing.

As more and more schools begin to support in-person learning environments, communities across the country have turned to routine COVID-19 testing to monitor the spread of the virus. Even as teachers and guardians become eligible for vaccines, clinical vaccine trials for individuals under 16 are just beginning, and efforts to track and mitigate viral spread remain critical. 

Concentric by Ginkgo's goal is to provide easy, affordable pooled testing to every school in America. Pooled classroom testing, which combines swabs from all consenting individuals in a classroom and runs them as a single test, can significantly increase testing capacity and lower the cost of testing programs. In partnership with labs like NxGen MDx, Concentric by Ginkgo currently operates testing for hundreds of schools across America. 

"It's our mission to ensure that cost and lack of access are never a factor when it comes to COVID-19 testing," said Alan Mack, CEO of NxGen MDx. "That's why it made perfect sense to partner with Ginkgo."

"As communities consider the many COVID-19 testing models available, pooled testing stands out as an affordable option to identify pockets of prevalence as schools look to reopen," said Jason Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks. "We started Concentric because everyone's health is connected, and giving schools the capacity to test every student, every week provides the critical information and confidence communities need." 

To learn more about Concentric by Ginkgo or to get your school district involved, head over to concentricbyginkgo.com.

About NxGen MDx
NxGen MDx LLC is a leading women's health company delivering highly accurate and precise genetic testing. NxGen MDx's history of whole-gene sequencing combined with advanced technology allows us to provide accessible, high-quality testing options to families as they plan for the future. NxGen MDx employs state-of-the-art technology, including rapid molecular diagnostics for infectious disease and genetic screening technology that examines the entire gene rather than parts of the gene, giving women and families a comprehensive assessment of their health. NxGen MDx is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. To learn more, visit the company's website at www.nxgenmdx.com.

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About Ginkgo Bioworks
Concentric by Ginkgo is Ginkgo Bioworks' public health and biosecurity effort. Headquartered in Boston, Ginkgo uses the most advanced technology on the planet—biology—to grow better products. The company's cell programming platform is enabling the growth of biotechnology across diverse markets, from food to fragrance to pharmaceuticals. Ginkgo is also actively supporting a number of COVID-19 response efforts, including community testing, epidemiological tracing, vaccine development, and therapeutics discovery. For more information, visit www.ginkgobioworks.com. 
http://www.ginkgobioworks.com

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SOURCE NxGen MDx