César Mendes, principal investigator of the Neurogenetics of Locomotion Lab, was awarded a research grant from FCT for the project “Development of an inexpensive, simple and open-source device for SARS-Cov-2 detection”.
This project aims to design an affordable, precise, simple to use, and open-source device to execute thermocycler (PCR) protocols ready to run COVID-19 tests.
So far, several methodologies have been developed to detect the presence of viral genetic material associated to COVID-19. However, these assays require the use of expensive and complex devices that prevent large-scale testing. With this project, Cesar Mendes and his team seek to design an affordable, precise, simple to use, and open-source device to execute thermocycler protocols ready to run PCR-optimized protocols currently under development at CEDOC. César Mendes emphasizes that "this device will be a valuable tool to expand testing capacity for COVID-19".