What is your turnaround time?
We have two service levels: Our standard report turnaround time is 2-3 business days after sample receipt, while our expedited report turnaround time is 1 business day after sample receipt.
What do your reports look like?
We offer multiple report formats that correlate to our different service levels. Please contact us at support@biobot.io to learn more.
When can I expect to see my results?
Once a sample arrives at the lab, the process of completing qPCR and generating results takes about 36 hours. Once the lab has completed the qPCR process and the Data Quality team has verified that the analysis passes our QC standards, your results will be generated. Biobot delivers the results back to your organization, which include: raw virus concentration, effective virus concentration, and a time series which contextualizes your virus concentrations over time at your sampling location.
Sampling locations who have elected to participate in our Public Visualization will also have be able to access data aggregated at the county level through our Biobot website data visualization website. Please feel free to reach out to support@biobot.io if you would like to make sure your location data is included in Biobot's Public Visualization website.
Data from participating CDC NWSS Program locations will also be uploaded to the CDC COVID Data Tracker. You may review our article on navigating the CDC COVID Data Tracker here for more information.
Can we share results with our communities?
Yes, please feel free to share your data with affected community groups, local stakeholders, health care systems and public health officials.
If you would like to add additional recipients to the results distribution list, simply email support@biobot.io and provide the desired recipients’ names and email addresses.
Biobot data has been used to inform Covid-19 responses since the start of the pandemic and has yielded tangible benefits on local, county, state, and regional levels. We encourage you to reach out to public officials to support the expansion of wastewater monitoring everywhere. If you have any questions about how to interpret or communicate the data, do not hesitate to email support@biobot.io. We would be happy to work with you and your community.
How does Biobot maintain privacy and confidentiality?
We value the privacy of our customers, and we are committed to protecting the confidentiality of your information.
Sewage data is not considered personally identifiable information. It is naturally aggregated and anonymized at its rawest form, so sewage samples cannot be traced back to a specific toilet or individual. In addition, Biobot cannot share wastewater analysis results with anyone other than the customer without obtaining the explicit consent of the customer.
Can you provide a list of all participating communities and wastewater treatment plants?
While we are not currently providing a full list of participating communities, we have in the past facilitated local and regional information exchanges between partner communities. Additionally, feel free to review the publicly available data on our Public Data Visualization website.
What does Biobot do with leftover samples?
Biobot archives leftover samples in case samples need to be reprocessed and for research and development purposes. For example; to develop new assays and improve data analysis techniques. Biobot is unable to return leftover samples to customers.
How does Biobot use data generated from wastewater samples?
Our company values - Data for Good, Collaboration, and Privacy & Transparency - guide how we handle the data generated from samples.
- We value protecting the privacy of customers:
- Wastewater data is naturally aggregated and anonymized, so it cannot be traced back to a specific household or individual, and is not personally identifiable information.
- If we share data publicly, data is grouped by county, state, and/or region and does not identify specific contributing locations.
- We may use data from samples for internal research and development. We believe in the promise of wastewater data to advance public health, and to fully realize this potential, we need to use the samples and data we collect to continue developing our technologies. For example, to develop new assays and improve data analysis techniques.
- We may include aggregated data from samples in public dashboards, blogs, or data products: Our mission is to maximize the public health impact of the data we generate. As such, we may include data generated from samples in public resources and products that Biobot creates. We use our Code of Ethics to assess the benefits and risks of sharing data, a key consideration being protecting the privacy of customers.