The virology service is integrated with the Department of Clinical Microbiology, whose laboratories are located on A and B floors, West Block, Queen’s Medical Centre campus. The laboratory has UKAS accreditation and is approved for training by the IBMS and School of Healthcare Science.

The major equipment platforms that the virology laboratory uses include:
Serology: Diasorin Liaison XL, Abbott Alinity i, DS2 ELISA system
Molecular: Thermofisher Kingfisher, Abbott Alinity M, Cepheid GeneXpert, Qiagen QIAStat, Ausdiagnostics High-Plex, Altona AltoStar, Applied Biosystems QuantStudio 5 and BioRad CFX96 X4
Research & Specialist Molecular: Promega Maxwell RSC 16 x2, Applied Biosystems Proflex/Veriti PCR systems, Bio Molecular Systems Myra liquid handler, Agilent Bioanalyser, Thermo Scientific NanoDrop One, Invetrogen Qubit 3, BioRad GelDoc Imaging system, Applied Biosystems SeqStudio, Oxford Nanopore MinION.

The molecular testing repertoire includes seasonal and extended respiratory virus panels, bloodborne virus quantification, neurological virus panel, CMV and EBV qPCRs.

Opening times:
The department operates a 24/7 service, with a reduced service outside of the core operational hours of 9am-5pm. Outside normal hours there is an on-call service for medical microbiology and virology advice.