Aberdeen University has been awarded almost £1million to fund projects aimed at tackling coronavirus.
The institution has teamed up with north-east firm Elasmogen to develop a test for the disease which is said to be as quick and easy to carry out as a pregnancy test.
Current testing for the virus takes between four and 24 hours to complete and requires shipment of clinical samples from drive through and other collection centres.
It is hoped that through the funding, which has been provided by the Scottish Government, it would allow a test to be developed which could provide accurate results in just 30 minutes.
Caroline Barelle, chief executive of Elasmogen, said: “The Elasmogen team are delighted to be given the opportunity to deploy our SoloMer technology platform to develop specific diagnostics against Covid-19 and are proud to be contributing to the global life sciences effort tackling this pandemic by working together with colleagues in universities and other companies.”
The news comes as the government’s testing tsar yesterday said he was confident the ambitious 100,000 daily target for coronavirus tests will be met today.
Professor John Newton, director of public health improvement for Public Health England (PHE), said: “We are pretty confident we will hit that target. It puts us really right up there with countries like Germany, so we need that now but we need that for the future as well.”
He added that although there will be a lag in receiving the data “by the end of the week we will know whether we have reached that target”, he added.
In total six university projects across the country have been awarded a share of a £5m funding pot.
Aberdeen University will also examine the impact of the pandemic on healthcare workers, including an investigation into interventions which can support doctors’ well-being and promote resilience as they adapt to rapidly changing healthcare needs.