Lighthouse Lab opens in Loughborough

The latest coronavirus 'Lighthouse Lab' has opened at Charnwood Campus in Loughborough.

Created and managed by PerkinElmer, the advanced lab began processing samples yesterday and its understood its 400-strong team plan to process 50,000 coronavirus samples daily by early 2021.

The 'Lighthouse Lab' at Charnwood Campus is the result of a partnership between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and multinational diagnostics specialists at PerkinElmer Genomics, which has been engaged to equip, staff, and manage the facility.

PerkinElmer has recruited and trained a 400 team in Charnwood to utilise the company’s testing solutions, procedures, and technology as part of the UK’s national Covid-19 test and trace effort. 

It's being welcomed by the leader of Charnwood Borough Council, Cllr Jonathan Morgan, he says the lab is not only a boost for the country’s Covid-19 testing capacity and the battle against the pandemic but also the local economy thanks to the jobs created there.

Cllr Jonathan said: “I am delighted the Lighthouse Lab is up and running at Charnwood Campus. It has been a tremendous effort by everyone involved and I would like to offer my congratulations.

“The lab will not only help battle the pandemic, but it has also created a significant number of jobs in the borough.”

Gosia Khrais, the director for Charnwood Campus, said: “I would like to welcome the Department of Health and Social Care and Perkin Elmer as new occupiers on the site. The addition of the DHSC and PKI to the stronghold of science-driven organisations here is fantastic news for Charnwood Campus and our local economy.

"It would not have happened without an effort of a number of stakeholders, our local Council, MP but also committed design and construction team that delivered this fast-paced project on time, against the odds."

Utilising PerkinElmer’s proprietary Covid-19 kits, diagnostic equipment, and workflow solutions, the Charnwood Lab will deliver an increase in capacity for UK’s national test and trace programme.

At the heart of its testing capabilities are PerkinElmer’s proprietary Covid-19 testing kits (SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR kits), which can identify if a patient currently has a positive or negative result for the virus.  

Commenting on the launch of the Lighthouse Lab at Charnwood Campus, PerkinElmer’s managing director for UK & Ireland, Miles Burrows, said: “Our collaboration with the DHSC to create the newest Lighthouse Lab here in Charnwood will generate a major boost to the UK’s national testing capacity.

“PerkinElmer’s ability to draw on expertise from our operations across the globe has enabled us to rapidly build a facility that will apply our best-in-class technologies and turnkey approach to efficiently identify samples from individuals carrying the virus. In addition to assisting the DCHS to ramp up the nation’s testing capacity, this Lab has created hundreds of new jobs locally and allowed us to develop and deploy a team who are ready to play their essential role.”

Charnwood is the second Lighthouse Lab to be brought online by PerkinElmer on behalf of the DHSC. In October the diagnostics specialist opened the first of its Covid-19 testing operations in Newport, South Wales, which processes up to 20,000 test samples per day.