COVID-19 Fund to finance new projects on the epidemiological detection, diagnosis and tracking of virus

These three new studies will focus, respectively, on identifying the virus in the air at health centres, a new approach to diagnosing COVID-19 and technology to enhance the genetic information on the virus.

The first project will be coordinated by the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Centre (Spanish acronym: CBMSO), a joint centre formed by the National Scientific Research Council (Spanish acronym: CSIC) and the Autónoma University of Madrid, in collaboration with the La Paz Hospital Health Research Institute (IdiPAZ), Severo Ochoa Hospital, the IMDEA Nano-science Centre, ISCIII and ISGlobal. Its aim is to use sampling equipment to locate the airborne virus in healthcare environments, such as hospitals and health centres. Phase one seeks to better discover the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the air, while phase two will incorporate new technology to optimise detection and improve epidemiological monitoring, introducing sampling stations in urban environments and transport infrastructures, among other locations.

The second project will be coordinated by the Institute of Health Sciences of Aragon (Spanish acronym: IACS) and seeks to find an alternative diagnosis by studying fragments of the virus in small vesicles found in the blood, known as exosomes. Should the presence of viral fragments be found in the exosomes in the initial stages of the disease, then it would be possible to develop new diagnostic tests based on this analysis. In essence, this project explores early diagnosis solutions in blood to provide alternatives given the variable results offered on occasions by the current diagnosis standard, which is performed by extracting mucus from the nose or pharynx.

Lastly, the third project will be coordinated by the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Centre and the National Oncological Research Centre (Spanish acronym: CNIO). The project is based on the use of the phage type Phi29 - which the Spanish scientist who recently passed away, Margarita Salas, devoted a large part of her career to - as the basis for a new strategy to amplify the sequences of SARS-CoV-2 more quickly. This strategy seeks to detect the virus in under an hour through a simple technique and without the need for specialised equipment, which would facilitate the mass detection of those people who are infected, including asymptomatic cases.

First month of COVID-19 Fund

The COVID-19 Fund, with a provision of 24 million euros, has financed 18 projects since it was set up a month ago, and will shortly announce the approval of further research designed to improve the short-term handling of the virus and the disease. To date, the ISCIII has received more than 1,300 applications for projects from all around Spain.

The Fund has financed projects that explore the best treatments available, with the aim of providing clinical decisions on which the different treatments used are based with scientific rigor. It has also promoted clinical trials geared to reduce the risk of infection in at-risk populations, and has committed to developing technologies that allow diagnostic times to be reduced. It has also selected projects that seek to identify the virus in hospitals and urban environments, among other lines of research.

Non official translation