CIMT researcher contributes to national COVID research
In collaboration with DTU and the company ATE, Knud Yderstræde from Steno Diabetes Centre Odense will develop a new platform for rapid screening of viral infection.
The project is called "PRESORT - Cost-efficient pre-screening system for virus infections" and has received almost 3.2 million DKK from the state's extraordinary fund for corona-related research and innovation.
The aim of the project is to develop a simple and affordable test for immediate and sensitive detection of disease development for patients suspected of viral infection – a point-of-care test for early prediction, before contact with the hospital. The test is based on a combination of cell counting in blood and detection of virus in saliva/secretion using nanotechnology, and will be able to provide an answer to infection in a matter of minutes. The solution must be developed on the basis of an existing prototype developed by the company ATE.
With the help of effective testing methods for early detection, future epidemics will be better quantified, which increases the possibility of developing safe, epidemiologically based forecasts for the spread of the epidemic.
The project is led by Professor Anders Kristensen, DTU and OUH's role in the project is to facilitate the clinical process. 1.25 million DKK of the total budget for the project has been allocated for this part.
The project started this week and is expected to run until early 2021 depending on the course of the pandemic.