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Development of sensitive and scalable screening assays for monitoring COVID-19 infections on a population scale

Grant number: unknown

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Key facts

  • Disease

    COVID-19

  • Start & end year

    2020
    2021

  • Known Financial Commitments (USD)

    $54,500

  • Funder

    WWTF Austria

  • Principal Investigator

    Johannes Zuber

  • Research Location

    Austria

  • Lead Research Institution

    Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP)

  • Research Priority Alignment

    N/A

  • Research Category

    Pathogen: natural history, transmission and diagnostics

  • Research Subcategory

    Diagnostics

  • Special Interest Tags

    N/A

  • Study Type

    Non-Clinical

  • Clinical Trial Details

    N/A

  • Broad Policy Alignment

    Pending

  • Age Group

    Not Applicable

  • Vulnerable Population

    Not applicable

  • Occupations of Interest

    Not applicable

Abstract

There is broad consensus that containment of the COVID-19 pandemic can only be achieved through a massive expansion of virus testing, which is turning out to be a major bottleneck in most countries, including Austria. In addition to serological tests that are already emerging, with which a SARS-CoV-2 infection can only be detected after days, scalable assays for the early detection of viral RNA are crucial for the success of such screening programs. In close cooperation with the Vienna COVID-19 Diagnostic Initiative (VCDI) and clinical partners at the Social Medical Center South (KFJ / KAV), innovative assays are being developed for the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in sputum and swab samples, with which the achievable Sample throughput in virus screening programs could be massively increased.