BGI, a leading life science organization, is showcasing its COVID-19 anti-pandemic technology including the Huo-Yan Laboratory solutions and high-throughput sample preparation system at the 2021 SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) International Investment and Trade Expo (2021 SCO Expo) & SCO Qingdao Forum on Local Economic and Trade Cooperation. 

Diplomatic envoys and guests from SCO countries visited BGI’s booth.

 (First on the right in the front row - Vladimir Norov, Secretary General of the SCO)

BGI is displaying the company’s extensive experience and technologies developed during the fight against the global pandemic, with the Huo-Yan Laboratory being the most eye-catching exhibit. Born in the campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Huo-Yan Laboratory offers complete technical solutions, complete equipment, service platforms, and standard systems for pathogen detection. The Huo-Yan Laboratory is also available in two easy-to-deploy models in air-inflated film chambers or mobile cabins that can be put into use immediately wherever and whenever is needed.

As of today, more than 80 Huo-Yan Laboratories have been set up in nearly 30 countries and regions worldwide, and BGI has supplied COVID-19 test kits to over 180 countries and regions. All BGI’s Huo-Yan Laboratories worldwide guarantee a total throughput of one million tests per day. 

In the post-COVID-19 era, Huo-Yan Laboratories can be repurposed to provide large-scale testing capacity for public health issues such as reproductive health, infectious diseases, and tumors, providing a valuable resource for medical and healthcare systems in different regions and improving the health and well-being of local populations.

Guests visited BGI’s Huo-Yan Laboratory booth at the 2021 SCO Expo.

At SCO Qingdao Forum on Local Economic and Trade Cooperation, Vice President of BGI Global Development Terence Xiong mentioned that, at the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak, BGI actively cooperated with different charity organizations and donated testing equipment and reagents to nearly 40 countries, including SCO countries. BGI built four Huo-Yan Laboratories in Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, and India, delivering a daily testing capacity of 12,500 tests and providing strong support for the local battle against COVID-19.

Terence Xiong, Vice President of BGI Global Development, at the forum.

At the end of May 2020, BGI built the Huo-Yan Laboratory in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan in just one week. The Minister of Healthcare of Kazakhstan as well as the Mayor of Nur Sultan attended the launch ceremony of the lab. BGI provided training for local lab professionals and handed the lab over to locals when the training was finished. 

BGI-Qingdao

Qingdao, the host city of the 2021 SCO Expo, is also an important location for BGI. Since BGI launched local operations in Qingdao in 2016, BGI-Qingdao has become a front runner in marine species genome sequencing and gene database reserves, and it is building a national marine gene bank.

The BGI-Qingdao research institute attracts leading global experts and scholars, with almost 500 life science researchers working on site currently. As of today, the institute has published 135 academic papers in respected journals, submitted applications for 29 patents and software copyrights, and partnered with 164 research institutes globally to carry out 529 projects.

During the COVID-19 epidemic in Qingdao, BGI mobilized more than 140 professionals and nearly RMB 50 million worth of anti-pandemic supplies from multiple regions across China within 48 hours to support Qingdao’s fight against the epidemic. It took only one day for BGI to complete the upgrading and expansion of a Huo-Yan Air Lab. Within two days, the lab completed 1.01 million COVID-19 tests, safeguarding the entire population of Qingdao.