Meet two scientists from the UK’s COVID-19 megalab, working around the clock to test the public

At the beginning of lockdown, virologist Ben Galley and neuroscientist Beth Cole were forced to stop all their practical work for their PhDs - but that wouldn’t keep them out of the lab. Because of their laboratory experience they were asked to work on COVID-19 test samples, analysing swabs sent in by the public. During April and May, Ben and Beth swapped their smaller Leeds-based labs for a new COVID-testing ‘megalab’ in Milton Keynes.

What was the experience like for you?

Beth: It was probably one of the most intense experiences of my life. It was good to be there and I was really happy that I was helping, but by the end I had to leave. The atmosphere and other people working there made it a good experience.

Ben: I really liked the sense of community. We were all there because we wanted to help. Although it was hard, it was nice that everyone was there wanting to do something good.

What did the training involve?

Beth: We were meant to have a few days of training on each step, but because we started during a final push towards reaching 100,000 tests a day, they were really trying to get it off the ground. We were chucked in the deep end and trained on the job. In the first few days we tried all the stages. After the training, people knew what they liked, and the person in charge quickly identified which roles we were best at. I was quite fast at the first step and ended up staying there for ages.