The paper, entitled 'Small Error Algorithms for Tropical Group Testing', considers a version of the classical group testing problem motivated by PCR testing for COVID-19. In the so-called tropical group testing model, the outcome of a test is the lowest cycle threshold (Ct) level of the individuals pooled within it, rather than a simple binary indicator variable.

The paper was authored by Vivek Paligadu, undergraduate student from the School of Mathematics, Professor Oliver Johnson and Dr Matthew Aldridge (University of Leeds) and was part of the school’s summer bursary project funded by the ‘Mark Williams Alumni Funds’.

Huge congratulations to all the authors, in particular Vivek, who as a Mathematics undergraduate, took an impressive lead on the project. Professor Johnson said "it was a pleasure to work with Vivek on this project, and it's great to see that the ideas and skills that we teach to our undergraduates can pass over to cutting-edge research like this".