He Superior Council of Scientific Investigations (CSIC) has launched an Interdisciplinary Thematic Platform (PTI) called Global Health / Global Health, in which more than 150 research groups from different specialties, from biotechnology and nanotechnology to demography, collaborate to address the challenges posed by the epidemic of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to find solutions in the short, medium and especially long term. At the moment, it already has 12 scientific projects.
"One of the keys to this PTI Global Health is to have a global vision that allows all aspects of the pandemic to be linked: origin, prevention, disease, containment measures, treatment, social impact, and finally the need for communication to the society, particularly in education, "says Jesús Marco, vice president of Scientific and Technical Research at the CSIC. It also includes three cross-cutting working groups: innovation, information sources, data, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications. The platform, promoted by the CSIC's Vice Presidency for Scientific and Technical Research, is coordinated by Margarita del Val, researcher at the Severo Ochoa Center for Molecular Biology (CBMSO), supported by a committee of experts in the different areas involved.
The support of Fundación MAPFRE, with an important donation to the CSIC for research on coronaviruses, has been key to launching this platform, with the initial funding of 12 research projects. "These are projects that will allow a much better understanding of virus transmission, its dynamics, and its clinical and epidemiological characteristics. They will also develop new diagnostic technologies, test new antiviral combinations, and contribute to the development of an effective new antigen-based vaccine. "Marco details.
One of the most important challenges proposed is to characterize the immunological response to the virus in the Spanish population, key to a new possible wave of infection. Equally relevant is the study of the effects of mobility restriction measures and social distancing on the epidemic, key to designing future containment strategies. And the analysis of the coordination mechanisms between health policy and other sectors of public policy to speed up the response to crises.
In addition, about 60 proposals from research groups from all over Spain have been sent from the platform to the call of the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), many of them forming a team with Universities, Hospitals and other institutions, as befits a platform open and collaborative. A platform in which the groups of the National Center for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC) and the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) also participate, which already have national and European projects underway.
"Precisely the great value of this Global Health Platform is to unite the knowledge of all these front-line research groups in different areas, which will allow the preparation of a working document with the key questions in the short, medium and long term. term, to respond from science, and from our country, to this pandemic, which allows us to find the solutions that society urgently demands from us as soon as possible, "concludes the CSIC vice president of Scientific and Technical Research.