biostudies-literatureUnknown9(1)Reis de Andrade JHuo Family FoundationRapid and accessible testing was paramount in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our university established KCL TEST: a SARS-CoV-2 asymptomatic testing programme that enabled sensitive and accessible PCR testing of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in saliva. Here, we describe our learnings and provide our blueprint for launching diagnostic laboratories, particularly in low-resource settings. Between December 2020 and July 2022, we performed 158277 PCRs for our staff, students, and their household contacts, free of charge. Our average turnaround time was 16 h and 37 min from user registration to result delivery. KCL TEST combined open-source automation and in-house non-commercial reagents, which allows for rapid implementation and repurposing. Importantly, our data parallel those of the UK Office for NBiology methods & protocolsbpae046https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC11238426biostudies-literatureKCL TEST: an open-source inspired asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 surveillance programme in an academic institution.PMC11238426Maguire TJAMenendez-Vazquez AZuckerman MRazavi RWilson SLeightley DCaine EGriffin AGardiner IGoudarzi NOrtega-Prieto AMIvan IFMischo HEMartinez-Nunez RTReis de Andrade JDoherty GTrouillet CRubinchik SPapaioannou STorrico LScourfield EGiralt VKirk MGasulla APickering SMalim MHJimenez-Guardeno JMCurtis CSherrin DPoulton KPeswani-Sajnani SLBatra RAp Rees TKhooshemehri POng SNeil SJDGalao RPTan AVFMartindale JfalseKCL TEST: an open-source inspired asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 surveillance programme in an academic institution.Rapid and accessible testing was paramount in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our university established KCL TEST: a SARS-CoV-2 asymptomatic testing programme that enabled sensitive and accessible PCR testing of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in saliva. Here, we describe our learnings and provide our blueprint for launching diagnostic laboratories, particularly in low-resource settings. Between December 2020 and July 2022, we performed 158277 PCRs for our staff, students, and their household contacts, free of charge. Our average turnaround time was 16 h and 37 min from user registration to result delivery. KCL TEST combined open-source automation and in-house non-commercial reagents, which allows for rapid implementation and repurposing. Importantly, our data parallel those of the UK Office for N2024-01-01T00:00:00Z20242025-04-19T01:06:30.036Z2025-04-07T12:05:48.074ZS-EPMC112384263899352310.1093/biomethods/bpae046