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Impact and viability of a novel mass PCR testing method as a pandemic-fighting strategy

Descrizione del progetto

Un metodo di screening di massa per le pandemie

Le conseguenze della pandemia di SARS-CoV-2 hanno messo in luce la necessità di una migliore preparazione contro focolai futuri di agenti patogeni. Occorre sviluppare il prima possibile una strategia di test su larga scala per contenere la trasmissione degli agenti patogeni e fino a quando non saranno disponibili terapie e vaccini. Il progetto PCR 4 ALL, finanziato dall’UE, sostiene la reazione a catena della polimerasi (PCR) quale metodo ideale di prima linea e si propone di aumentarne la capacità, abbassandone al contempo il costo. L’esame diagnostico della PCR si avvale del genoma dell’agente patogeno ed è facilmente progettabile. Il consorzio intende dimostrare la fattibilità tecnica di eseguire 100 000 test al giorno e l’utilità di tale strategia nella lotta contro le pandemie.

Obiettivo

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only affected our health, but also our lifestyles and our economies. Given its high non-symptomatic transmissibility, to stop a pandemic-causing pathogen like SARS-CoV-2 early on its tracks without needing to resort to economy-damaging measures, would have required a mass testing strategy very early on: according to some estimates up to 10% of a nation’s population should have been tested on a daily basis to achieve this. Given the exponential growth tendency of pandemic-causing respiratory viruses, as soon as such pathogen is identified a large-scale testing campaign should immediate be deployed (a strategy adopted successfully in very densely populated areas of China). And given the long periods required to develop other pandemic-fighting strategies (i.e. such as vaccines and quick diagnostic tests), PCR-based mass testing could be the ideal front line of defense, since it can be developed in only a few weeks after decoding the genetic map of the pathogen. But although PCR testing capacity has greatly been increased worldwide, regularly testing large fractions of the population would still remain prohibitively costly with current technology.
The PCR-4-ALL consortium (combining expertise in diagnostics, high-throughput-screening, virology, disease modelling, econometrics and digital health platforms) will aim to demonstrate the technical feasibility of carrying out population-wide PCR testing by demonstrating a capacity of >10^5 tests in a single day and platform, in an extremely cost-effective manner (at least 2 orders of magnitude cheaper than currently). We will, furthermore, evaluate the effectiveness of utilizing this strategy as the main pandemic-fighting measure by assessing its ability to minimize, or even prevent, the need to implement other costly and partially ineffective measures (i.e. lockdowns and vaccination campaigns).

Parole chiave

Coordinatore

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Contribution nette de l'UE
€ 1 569 375,00
Indirizzo
OUDE MARKT 13
3000 Leuven
Belgio

Mostra sulla mappa

Regione
Vlaams Gewest Prov. Vlaams-Brabant Arr. Leuven
Tipo di attività
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Collegamenti
Costo totale
€ 1 569 375,00

Partecipanti (3)