COVID-19 screening by the Clinical Analysis Laboratory of the University of Coimbra in full operation
The University of Coimbra (UC) has been operating, for about a week, in its Clinical Analysis Laboratory, a high security unit dedicated to conducting diagnostic tests for Covid-19, the disease caused by infection with the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV2). The space - installed in the UpCells laboratory, located in the old building of the Faculty of Medicine (Campus I) - is another UC response to the pandemic that has affected the country and the world in recent weeks. "We have done everything in our power to contribute to the national effort to combat the pandemic that led the country to a state of emergency", says the Rector, Amílcar Falcão.
The work in the Clinical Analysis Laboratory of UC - which has responded within 24 hours to all requests sent so far by the Centre Regional Health Administration (ARSC) and the Coimbra Hospital and University Centre (CHUC), which has been running on average about 250 tests per day – counts on 9 teams of volunteers (about 80 people), involving professors, researchers, students and other collaborators from the University of Coimbra, from their research centers in the biomedical area, such as the Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC) and the Institute of Clinical and Biomedical Research of Coimbra (iCBR), which is joined by professionals from CHUC and the Portuguese Institute for Blood and Transplantation.
“Although we are still far from our installed capacity (we have the capacity to process twice as many samples as they are sending us), our commitment is being fully fulfilled: perform COVID-19 screening safely, with quality, providing results within 24 hours, at controlled costs and responding to requests from the health authority, ”says Amílcar Falcão.
In order to reinforce these teams that carry out diagnostic tests, the Laboratory of Clinical Analysis of the University of Coimbra continues to recruit volunteers who have technical laboratory skills for handling human biological samples in high security facilities (BSL3) and with training in analytical methodologies with emphasis on RT-PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Any interested parties should fill in the form available here.
The University of Coimbra thus joins its Clinical Analysis Laboratory in the common effort developed by several partners, led by the Centre Regional Health Administration, with the support of the Coimbra Hospital and University Centre, the Portuguese Institute for Blood and Transplantation and the Coimbra City Hall. This is another initiative integrated in the UC Against Covid-19 Platform that aggregates all the projects and actions of the Academy of Coimbra against the pandemic.