METADATA last updated: 2026-03-06 by BA file_name: XPrize Kits - Rapid Testing Proficiency Kit Handling Instructions.md file_date: **FLAGGED - UNKNOWN** title: XPRIZE Rapid Covid Testing - Proficiency Kit Handling Instructions category: various subcategory: xprize tags: source_file_type: pdf xfile_type: NA gfile_url: NA xfile_github_download_url: NA pdf_gdrive_url: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P05UkYPfngq6hq-8zQUTO8xjbG_6cx8n/ pdf_github_url: https://github.com/FocusOnFoundationsNonprofit/floodlamp-archive-wip/blob/main/various/xprize/XPrize%20Kits%20-%20Rapid%20Testing%20Proficiency%20Kit%20Handling%20Instructions.pdf conversion_input_file_type: pdf conversion: msmid license: CC BY 4.0 - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ tokens: 1000 words: 776 notes: summary_short: Detailed handling instructions for the XPRIZE Rapid Testing proficiency test kits sent to semi-finalist teams, covering sample format (0.5-1 mL Matrix tubes with barcodes), storage requirements (-80°C for dry ice shipments, 4°C for cold pack shipments), result entry format, and specific guidance for both antigen (gamma-irradiated cell products) and RNA (chemically-inactivated cell products and synthetic RNA) test kits, including notes on albumin precipitation at high temperatures. CONTENT ***INTERNAL TITLE:*** XPRIZE Rapid Testing Proficiency Kit Instructions This shipment contains a test kit for semifinalists of the XPRIZE Rapid Testing competition. It is for research use only and has no commercial value. The kit does not contain hazardous chemicals. No infectious agents have been added to any of the samples. Sample targets in the antigen test kit include gamma-irradiated cell line products and purified recombinant proteins. Targets in the RNA test kit include chemically-inactivated cell line products and synthetic RNA. Some samples contain human saliva or nasal swab materials purchased from a vendor. You should handle these samples under your institution's guidelines for such materials. Samples are contained in 0.5 or 1 mL Thermo Matrix tubes. Each tube has a unique tube number and corresponding barcode. Tubes are contained in racks (boxes), each with a rack number and corresponding barcode. Each rack contains a negative control at position A1 and a positive control at position A2. Each tube has a minimum sample volume of 200 µL. By email, you will receive a sample sheet. This sheet will list each of the samples by rack and tube number, as well as their row and column positions (e.g., A1). The sample sheet will also reveal the matrix (i.e., base fluid) for each sample. These include water, phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), saliva, and nasal swab material resuspended in PBS. The sample sheet has three columns for entry of your results. The first column is required and is for no detection (enter 0), detection (enter 1), or test fail (enter -1). A test fail includes any issue that prevented a positive or negative detection result (e.g., inconclusive result, machine error, human error, etc.). The second and third columns are optional. Here you can enter any test-specific output and their units of measure. You will have one week starting from your time of receipt to analyze the samples and return the sample sheet with your test results. Return the sheet to XPRIZE by uploading it to the Prize Operations Platform (POP). Here you will also identify the type of material your test is designed to detect. This will allow XPRIZE to score your performance based only on the samples that have materials your test is able to detect. If your test does not function with a particular matrix fluid, you may dilute the sample in an appropriate buffer that is compatible with your test. You can inform us of this at rapidtesting@xprize.org. If your test requires knowledge of prevalence (e.g., for pooling strategies), you may choose to individually analyze a portion of each sample and determine this yourself. XPRIZE will not be revealing this information. ### Antigen Test Kit If you are testing for antigen, your kit consists of one rack shipped on dry ice. The kit ideally should be stored at -80°C until analysis. For short term storage for a week or less, -20°C is sufficient. Additional freeze-thaw cycles should be avoided. While performing your testing protocol, samples still should be kept on ice or as cold as reasonably possible until the moment of analysis. The positive control has virus material with 10^4 RNA copies/µL. Units here are RNA copies/µL because the material was analyzed by PCR. Rest assured that antigen components are also present. ### RNA Test Kit If you are testing for RNA, your kit consists of two racks, one shipped on dry ice and one on cold packs. The rack shipped on dry ice should be stored at -80°C until analysis. For short term storage for a week or less, -20°C is sufficient. The rack shipped on cold packs should be stored at 4°C until analysis. While performing your testing protocol, samples still should be kept on ice or as cold as reasonably possible until the moment of analysis. The dry ice-shipped positive control has 10^4 RNA copies/µL. The cold pack-shipped positive control has 10^2 RNA copies/µL. Several of the samples (including the positive control) that are shipped on cold packs contain albumin as an inert formulation reagent. We have observed that some precipitation (i.e., cloudiness) may occur upon heating at 95°C for 10 minutes. Incubation at 90°C for 5 minutes reduces this phenomenon and 65°C for 20 minutes reduces it even more. If your test requires heating for inactivation or other reasons, you may consider modifying your protocol if you believe the precipitation may interfere with your analysis. If you cannot modify your protocol and must have a 95°C incubation step, let us know which samples were problematic at rapidtesting@xprize.org. In our own tests, we found that this issue did not interfere with RT-qPCR methods but sometimes (but not always) affected interpretation of colorimetric LAMP methods.