COVID-19 Project wins “Norte+Inovador” Prize
The DeepFastCoV project, which i3S developed in late 2020 to respond to a need from the National Health Service (“SNS”) in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the Northern region of Portugal, was awarded the “Norte + Inovador” prize as part of the "Mais a Norte” Awards, promoted by the Northern Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-Norte).
For Didier Cabanes, who co-led the team that immediately responded to the emergency situation at the time with researcher Luísa Pereira, and now coordinates i3S Diagnostics, this prize “recognises i3S’s ability to transfer its scientific and technical excellence to society, having immediately responded to an SNS need in the face of one of the greatest international public health emergencies. This prize rewards not only the project members but also, and especially, the more than 250 volunteers from the COVID-19 Task Force who helped set up the i3S testing laboratory during the pandemic.”
i3S began by signing a protocol with the Northern Regional Health Administration (“ARS Norte”) and creating the COVID-19 laboratory to perform PCR and rapid antigen tests approved by INFARMED. At the time, it served the local of health centres (Agrupamentos de Centros de Saúde or “ACeS”) in the North, more specifically in the municipalities of Guimarães, Braga, Aveiro, Porto, Santo Tirso, Trofa, Gondomar, Maia, Valongo, Póvoa de Varzim, Vila do Conde, Paredes, Penafiel, Castelo de Paiva, Felgueiras, Lousada, and Paços de Ferreira. i3S also carried out COVID-19 screening promoted by the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity, and Social Security, as well as testing for the issuance of travel certificates to the Madeira archipelago.
At that same time, i3S presented the DeepFastCoV project — “Assessment of co-infection, seasonality, and infectiousness of SARS-CoV-2 throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, while implementing a faster diagnosis” — to CCDR-Norte. This project, which has now been awarded, was co-financed by COMPETE and the Northern Regional Operational Programme 2014-2020 (NORTE2020) with 300,000 euros.
This funding, explains Didier Cabanes, “allowed for the hiring of doctoral researchers who reinforced the team, and the acquisition of computer equipment, biosafety cabinets, real-time PCR, and a robot for large-scale test processing. This increased our efficiency, safety, reproducibility, and response time, allowing us to perform up to 1,000 tests per day”. The project also allowed for the expansion of the biobank’s storage capacity (approximately 40,000 samples) with two ultra-freezers.
In partnership with a multinational pharmaceutical company, Didier Cabanes underlines, the COVID-19 laboratory also established “a diagnostic model for screening passengers and workers on cruises sailing on the River Douro, as well as the populations in this region, by analysing more than 50,000 saliva samples.” i3S also worked with the National Institute of Public Health of Cape Verde (INSP) and various private entities by carrying out certification tests for materials with antiviral activity. All in all, states the coordinator of the DeepFastCoV project, the i3S COVID-19 laboratory “accounted for more than 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 detection tests”.
The collection and integration of nasopharyngeal samples into the i3S biobank for molecular research on the SARS-CoV-2 virus throughout the pandemic, Didier Cabanes emphasises, “allowed us to verify seasonal signatures of the microbiome in response to the presence of this virus and to evaluate the mutation profile of the different SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in the North of Portugal and their impact on infectivity. These works enabled the publication of several scientific articles.”
In 2022, the resources of DeepFastCoV were framed in a new clinical service, giving rise to i3S Diagnostics. Using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) to identify nucleic acids of infection-causing agents and identify antibiotic resistance, i3S Diagnostics now offers an innovative service for the rapid and precise identification of microbiological agents, which will mitigate the risk of multi-resistant pathogens emerging. It also works with referral hospitals in the North region to provide the best response to emerging pathogenic threats and future infectious disease outbreaks.
About the “Mais a Norte” Awards
The “Mais a Norte” Awards received more than 230 applications, from which 31 finalists were selected, culminating in the distinction of 17 projects in the categories: “Norte + Inovador”, “Norte + Criativo”, “Norte + Sustentável”, “Norte + Inclusivo”, “Norte Civitas”, and “Norte Ruris”. The overall winner was awarded the “Prémio Mais a Norte,” and there was also a “Prémio do Público,” which was decided through an online vote.
