The Virology lab is located at the National Blood Centre (NBC), on the grounds of St James hospital in Dublin 8. It is governed and operated by a dedicated multidisciplinary team, including Consultant Microbiologist, Medical scientists, Biomedical scientists and Laboratory assistants. The laboratory is regulated by the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA).
The core function of the IBTS Virology Laboratory is the mandatory screening of all blood donations for the presence of antibodies to:
- HIV Type I & II.
- Antibody to Hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV).
- Human T-lymphotropic virus types I and II.
- Antibody to Hepatitis B core (anti-HBc).
- Hepatitis B surface Antigen (HBsAg).
- Antibody to Treponema Pallidum (Syphilis).
- Selected donations are tested for Cytomegalovirus (CMV) (approx. 80% of donations) in order to have a supply of CMV negative donations for those patients who are at –risk of the complications of CMV infection e.g. immunocompromised patients.
- Malaria.
Technology
We perform testing on a number of platforms:
The Abbott Alinity S System
- This is a high-throughput, fully-automated immunoassay analyser designed to determine the presence of specific antigens and antibodies using chemiluminescent immunoassay (CMIA) technology.
The Abbott Architect
- A high throughput analyser that uses chemiluminescent immunoassay (CMIA) technology. It operates a large serological screening assay menu.
DS2® Automated Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) System
- This system is an open platform microtitre plate analyser. Performing the complete sample processing (sample pre-dilutions, sample and reagent dispensing, incubations, wash processes, plate transports) as well as the photometric measurement and evaluations. This system can operate a wide selection of ELISA assays
Research & Publications
We encourage our team to contributes to many different research projects and events throughout their career. Most recently, we published our findings in SARS-CoV-2 Seroepidemiology & Bloodborne Infectious Disease.
Result Reporting & Surveillance
The laboratory is responsible for the referral and reporting of repeat reactive samples, received from the donor and non-donor programmes, for confirmatory/supplementary testing to the following laboratories
- National Virus Reference Laboratory (NVRL),
- Central Pathology Laboratory (CPL) St James Hospital
- NHS-Monthly donation testing report
- National Transfusion Microbiology Laboratory (NTMRL) in Collindale UK (eg. Malaria testing)
Contact Details
- Chief Medical Scientist: Dermot Coyne
- Phone: 01 432 2984 / 01 432 2754
- Email: Virologylaboratory@ibts.ie
Related files
Related Content
Our core function is the mandatory screening of all blood donations for the presence of antibodies to bloodborne infections.