Although lab shutdowns are nothing new—fires, severe weather, and hazardous material spills can all be to blame—the length of downtime due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented. But with signs of a return to the ‘new normal’ beginning to show, labs that have been shut down for weeks, if not months, are putting in place measures to ensure reopening goes as smoothly as possible. We spoke with Dr. Amy Emery, research associate at the University of Cambridge, about some of the factors to be considered before resuming laboratory operations and discussed the practicalities of getting research programs up and running again.
Phased reopening
With the COVID-19 pandemic far from over, staff are likely to continue working from home wherever possible. However, as operations begin slowly to resume, a phased approach to lab reopening is the most sensible option to ensure the continued safety of personnel. By identifying key functions and those individuals most experienced in performing them, companies can start up the most critical operations first, gradually increasing operational capacity over time. Considerations involved in resuming lab work may include reconfiguring labs to maintain social distancing; providing staff with additional training—albeit remotely—to perform unfamiliar roles; and staggering work schedules to safely maximize productivity. Over time, as further functions and more personnel are reintroduced to the lab, procedures should be amended in line with recommended guidance.
To put this into context, Emery explains how she was one of the first to return to the lab in order to revive frozen cells for downstream experimentation. “Prior to the shutdown, we were forced to abandon many of our cell cultures,” she says. “Now, with lab work starting up again, we’ve thawed those cell lines most necessary to generate essential results, adopting a staggered approach to who comes in and sub-cultures them in order to maintain social distancing. Several members of the team have since been able to use these cells to run various experiments, always ensuring we minimize the number of personnel in the lab at any one time without compromising safety.”
Lab cleaning
Although most labs already have robust procedures in place for cleaning, extra measures will need to be implemented post COVID-19. These may include deep cleaning the entire site before staff can return to work, and thorough reevaluation of existing cleaning methods to reduce the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak among the workforce. High-touch locations in the lab—including benchtops, equipment touchpads, chair backs, drawer handles, water bath lids, and taps—should be cleaned regularly with an EPA-certified disinfectant such as 10% bleach in water, ensuring appropriate contact times for the disinfectant to be effective. Other measures include updating cleaning rosters to increase the frequency in which labs and equipment are cleaned, and disinfecting supplies such as consumables, new equipment, or samples coming into the lab from outside.
Changing PPE requirements
Laboratory-based staff are well-accustomed to safe working practices such as wearing PPE and handling waste appropriately, however processes must inevitably be ramped up in a world living in the shadow of COVID-19. Take, for example, lab coats, which are typically manufactured from cotton or polyester and (in a best-case scenario) are washed once a week. Because these are usually stored in close proximity when not in use, they represent a potential source of contamination should a researcher unknowingly be infected with COVID-19. Switching to disposable lab coats is one possible solution or, alternatively, laundering after every use. Other PPE considerations include whether to wear face masks in the lab, the value of double-gloving, and whether to use face shields in areas where the risk of contamination is elevated. In terms of waste handling, identifying a single waste collection point can prevent any third-party services from entering the lab unnecessarily.
“With global shortages of PPE resulting from the pandemic, we donated many of our supplies to the hospital [Addenbrooke’s] whose site our lab shares,” notes Emery. “This has meant significant re-stocking before we could return to work, as well as considering factors such as the need for additional PPE and changes to how we deal with contaminated waste.”
Ensuring shared resources are safe to use
Of course, no researcher spends the entirety of their working day confined to the lab, so activities outside of the laboratory environment should also be considered. Fitting doors and bins with foot pedals, especially in areas of high traffic like bathrooms, is one way to help minimize the spread of infection, whereas the use of gloves or wipe-clean keyboard covers may be an option where hot-desking is unavoidable. Policies should also be drafted to cover the use of other shared resources, including breakout areas and meeting rooms, with social distancing guidelines followed throughout and face-to-face interactions replaced with virtual meetings wherever possible. Emery notes that in recent weeks she has been working from home during the mornings before coming into the lab in the afternoons. “By implementing a rota for lab work, we’ve been able to minimize the number of people using shared resources at any one time without productivity taking too big of a hit,” she says. “This has helped us keep on top of the additional cleaning we’re now required to carry out and has also meant less footfall in communal areas.”
Powering up instrumentation correctly
In many cases, the COVID-19 shutdown caused lab users to vacate premises in a hurry, unaware that lab equipment could be out of action for weeks. This may mean that buffers have begun harboring contaminants, or automated equipment such as liquid handlers has started gathering dust. Additionally, instrumentation left in stand-by mode rather than being properly shut down may have generated so much heat that its performance (and the performance of other equipment in the same room) could have been impacted. To avoid potentially costly damage, instrumentation should be carefully checked before being powered up according to the manufacturer’s recommended procedures and should be recalibrated by a certified engineer where necessary. In labs fitted with smart technologies for monitoring temperature, humidity, and other environmental parameters, checking the monitoring records for the duration of the shutdown period can provide an indication of lab conditions while the premises were out of use.
Restarting cell cultures
Similarly to lab instrumentation, tissue culture hoods may also have been given only a cursory thought before being abandoned for weeks on end. To reduce the risk of cell cultures becoming contaminated as operations resume, tissue culture hoods should be deep cleaned, including removal of panels for disinfection of any historic spills in the drip tray; sterilizing with UV light exposure; and replacing filters where possible. In situations where tissue culture labs continued to run during the shutdown, cells sub-cultured less frequently or grown in continuous culture for longer than usual (to minimize footfall) should ideally be replaced from frozen stocks to avoid generating misleading data as a result of phenotypic change over time. Key checks to authenticate freshly revived cells include microscopy-based visualization of morphology, growth curve analysis, and assessment for contamination with bacteria or mycoplasma.
Preparing for future shutdown
While most lab users were unprepared for the situation in which we now find ourselves, the COVID-19 shutdown has highlighted the importance of having procedures in place should anything like this happen again. The ready adoption of remote working has gone a long way toward keeping company operations running, while the need to reassess company priorities will likely increase operational efficiencies moving forward. Now, as the risk of a second wave of infection waits in the wings, maintaining these new measures and continuing to introduce policies that are adaptable to changing needs will be key to staying one step ahead of the virus.