TWU Biology provides Denton County with coronavirus testing supplies

April 27, 2020 — DENTON — The Texas Woman’s University Department of Biology is supporting local COVID-19 testing by supplying Denton County Public Health with tubes of virus transport media (VTM) and nasal swabs for specimen collection.

“We were approached by the director of Denton County Public Health, Matthew Richardson, who happens to be a neighbor of assistant professor Christopher Brower,” said Juliet Spencer, professor and chair of the TWU Department of Biology. “Richardson mentioned they were having a very tough time getting supplies for testing and wondered if we might have the materials to prepare the VTM in our labs at TWU.”

The department faculty worked quickly to obtain the necessary approvals and additional equipment and, as of today, have prepared 300 tubes of VTM to support COVID-19 testing in the county. The tubes passed a quality control sterility test and were delivered to the county's public health facilities Friday.

“This has been a group effort by the biology department, with faculty members Spencer, Brower, Lionel Faure and Amy Jo Hammett all participating in the project. They are standing by to make more supply kits as needed,” said Abigail Tilton, dean of the TWU College of Arts and Sciences. “We are happy to be able to contribute in some small way to local management of this global pandemic.”