Government mandated lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a skeleton and/or remote staffing for many Shared Resource Laboratories. This had significant impacts on providing typical day to day in person SRL operations, including cytometer QC and operation, experimental troubleshooting, training researchers and performing instrument repairs.
An array of varying local government restrictions resulted in SRLs adapting and developing procedures and methods to continue to provide services to researchers within the boundaries imposed upon them. This included embracing remote communication software within and outside SRLs, developing new web based tools and SOPs to adapt these to the unpredictable landscape.
As the world navigates it’s way out of the COVID-19 pandemic, discussion will focus on what went right, what went wrong, and what we can continue to use and develop in a post Covid-19 lockdown landscape.