Virus detection tech gets funding for COVID adaptation

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Technology designed to detect biological threats and viruses in airports and hospitals is to be customised to identify the COVID-19 virus in public places.

virus

Kromek, headquartered in Durham, has received £1.25m from Innovate UK to adapt its biological threat detection system, which is already deployed in high-footfall locations to identify airborne threats.

Using DNA sequencing, Kromek’s radiation-based technology samples the air in-situ to automatically detect and analyse airborne pathogens. The system will now be adapted to rapidly test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes COVID-19 – as well as mutations of the virus which have recently been raising alarms.

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Funding for the project has been awarded under an 18-month programme of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) that is seeking solutions to address and mitigate the health, social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts of the pandemic. Kromek expects pilot projects of the new COVID detection system to be up and running by the summer, with commercial rollout in 2021/2022.

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