Nine projects from NOVA University Lisbon have been approved within the scope of RESEARCH 4 COVID-19, the special funding scheme of Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCT (the Portuguese foundation for science and technology), in collaboration with Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica - AICIB (the agency for clinical research and biomedical innovation), for rapid implementation projects measures that respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This financing represents around 260 thousand euros for innovative solutions that respond to the needs that the country faces in the fight against the pandemic.
The approved projects are:
- The construction of low-cost and easy-to-implement pulmonary ventilators, using 3D printers;
- COVID-19 tests, using a simpler and more economical method and with increased sensitivity;
- A study that will make it possible to identify the dynamics of the propagation of the new coronavirus, namely the relationship with the demographic and socioeconomic profiles of the territories, at the county level;
- Investigation on microbiota and COVID-19 to understand if the immune and metabolic responses in the individual infected with the new coronavirus depend on other microorganisms that inhabit the intestine;
- Creation of a digital platform at the level of primary health care to support and monitor chronic patients;
- The intervention of Occupational Health together with the health professionals most exposed to the pandemic, in the recovery phase, allowing surveillance and keeping them healthy and motivated;
- Tests on compounds that may become the basis of clinical trials to be carried out by the National Health Service;
- A cross-sectional study among the native and immigrant population of Amadora to assess the response to the pandemic in a context of social inequalities;
- Study on hospital production and financing in the post-pandemic period.
The approval of the projects is the recognition that the NOVA University Lisbon is committed to contributing, in the different areas of knowledge, to fight the pandemic that the country and the world face.
