MRIGlobal’s latest effort to combat Covid-19 brings Homeland Security contract
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has awarded a testing contract to Kansas City-based MRIGlobal that could reach $2 billion. Read more in the Kansas City Business Journal.
MRIGlobal will address managed testing services and molecular diagnostic test kits, the nonprofit announced in a release. The department awarded four one-year contracts, each of which has a one-year base and four one-year option periods.
The nonprofit research and development laboratory will provide diagnostic testing, sample collection and results reporting, the release says. That will allow the department to quickly identify infected people, based on testing done at MRIGlobal’s labs in Missouri and Maryland.
MRIGlobal has dived into the work to stem the spread of Covid-19 since it burst out in March 2020. Here’s a sampling:
- In November, the nonprofit announced that it plans to upgrade its Diagnostics Center of Excellence in Kansas City, repurposing lab space to handle Covid-19 research projects. The $16.6 million investment could generate at least 100 new jobs averaging an $80,000 salary in the next five years.
- In July, MRIGlobal joined a partnership with four other life science industry players to focus on developing a vaccine for Covid-19. The nonprofit’s role would be to handle preclinical testing.
- In March 2020, MRIGlobal rolled out new versions of its mobile laboratories to detect and respond to the coronavirus outbreak. The labs are expandable and can be used to find bacterial, viral and toxin targets, as well as explosive and chemical agents. Those are in addition to its CBCS, which is a flyable medical transport unit that was used to evacuate American coronavirus patients from China, in the pandemic’s early days.