{"id":64917,"date":"2020-03-26T15:25:54","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T19:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=64917"},"modified":"2020-03-27T09:39:29","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T13:39:29","slug":"brock-aids-local-company-in-producing-covid-19-test-kits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2020\/03\/brock-aids-local-company-in-producing-covid-19-test-kits\/","title":{"rendered":"How Brock is helping a local company produce COVID-19 test kits"},"content":{"rendered":"

A local company is making an international impact in combating the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to support from Brock University.<\/p>\n

Norgen Biotek, a microbiology firm founded by retired Brock Professor of Biological Sciences Yousef Haj-Ahmad, has long produced collection, purification and preservation devices for samples of all types, such as saliva, soil, urine and DNA.<\/p>\n

Now, the Thorold-based business is manufacturing COVID-19 testing kits as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur production has been expanded so much that we don\u2019t have anything sitting on our shelves,\u201d said Haj-Ahmad. \u201cWe ship everything immediately. People want it yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Machine Shop at Brock has been doing custom machine work for Norgen for several years, including producing steel punches. Here is a second stage machining of a steel punch.<\/p><\/div>\n

Brock University’s Faculty of Math and Science Machine Shop has been doing custom machine work for Norgen for several years, working closely with their engineer and manufacturing representative David Findlay.<\/p>\n

While supporting the Faculty’s research and teaching has been the primary focus of the Machine Shop since the early days of the University, it has also tried to accommodate several start-up or prototyping projects over the years \u2014 especially when there’s a Brock connection. It’s where the Norgen collaboration stemmed from.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things we produce for them are custom steel punches that are precision-machined and heat-treated to a specific hardness,\u201d said Stephen Renda, Supervisor of the Brock Machine Shop. \u201cWe use a special grade of tool steel and have finely tuned the process of machining and hardening them in-house.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says Findlay reached out with an urgent request to produce new sets of punches to develop COVID-19 testing kits, multiplying the capacity of Norgen\u2019s manufacturing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gratifying to know that what we\u2019re doing is helping the cause, but for me, it\u2019s just another day on the job \u2014 making parts,\u201d said Renda.<\/p>\n

Haj-Ahmad (BSc \u201980, MSc \u201982) says trying to keep up with demand wouldn\u2019t be possible without Brock, which he calls his \u201csecond home and first in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants to help each other at Brock,\u201d he said. \u201cI love the small, friendly atmosphere. All my kids went to Brock and we\u2019ve been working with the Machine Shop for years. We\u2019re happy to spend our money there; we don\u2019t even bargain with them. Any other place we\u2019d ask for a quotation, but because of the element of trust with Brock, we don\u2019t need to. You get fast, quality work.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says that while the COVID-19 pandemic grew rapidly, its impact can provide lessons on the importance of microbiology.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiotechnology and microbiotics are the future,\u201d he said. \u201cViral outbreaks do happen, and often every 10 years or so. In another decade, we\u2019ll be dealing with something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haj-Ahmad\u2019s daughter, Mary (BA \u201919), works as the executive assistant at Norgen. Working for her family\u2019s business, located a kilometre away from her alma mater, gives her a sense of pride, especially as it plays a role in navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes me feel good to know that we\u2019re strengthening our community,\u201d she said. \u201cThe region doesn\u2019t always get the recognition it deserves. It makes me really proud to be here. All of these scientists and researchers we\u2019ve seen so much of lately in the news aren\u2019t just in these big cities; they\u2019re here in our backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A local company is making an international impact in combating the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to support from Brock University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":64923,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,7484,3319,4052,41,1,4],"tags":[3333,49,8791,8811,3328,650,3325,8812,3774],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64917"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64917"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64946,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64917\/revisions\/64946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}