A battalion of 70 scientists from Granada against the Coronavirus
Nanoelectronics Laboratory in which they investigate graphene at the UGR. / IDEAL
Anti coronavirus projects. Researchers from the UGR, companies and scientific institutes propose the use of artificial intelligence, graphene, tests, mobile applications and new markers to tackle Covid-19.
The corona virus raises many questions for which there are currently no answers. Researchers, trained to find solutions to the unknown, put forward proposals in this health emergency situation. More than 30 research and innovation projects, in which more than seventy people are involved, have shared ideas in an online forum. The initiatives are promoted by private companies, the CSIC, various research centers, the universities of Granada and Jaén and the citizens themselves. There are actions in the short, medium and long term.
One of the notable proposals is the joint research between the Hospital Universitario Clínico San Cecilio de Granada and the Andalusian Institute for Research in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence of the University of Granada (UGR). The entire Radiodiagnosis Service of Hospital San Cecilio (under the direction of Dr. José Luis Martín Rodríguez) and a research team from the Andalusian Institute DaSCI-UGR (coordinated by researchers Francisco Herrera, Siham Tabik and Julián Luengo) are collaborating on the development of an intelligent system to detect from chest X-ray images if Covid-19 disease is present in the patient.
In this collaboration, initially X-ray images of patients diagnosed as positive, negative and doubtful are being collected to train a “Deep Learning” model to help specialists distinguish between positives and negatives. In a second phase, it is expected to expand the capacity of the model to identify and relate the radiological findings of the lungs infected with the virus with the impact that various factors such as age, sex, laboratory abnormalities, drugs or other diseases etc. may have on the course of Covid-19 disease and its automatic detection through imaging tests.
X-ray image of the chest of a person with Covid-19 (left) and film of a patient who tested negative for Covid-19 (right).
In all hospitals
This tool, based on RX, would allow this intelligent system to be applied in any hospital that has this technology. «In practice, the “Deep Learning” models are trained on a large set of data whose characteristics of interest we know in order to subsequently make reliable predictions on new data, in this case predicting whether a patient is developing the Covid-19 disease», describe from the project.
Rekom Biotech company employee team.
In the Nanoelectronics laboratory, they also make contributions, investigating a biosensor for early diagnosis of the disease based on a graphene biosensor. Professor Francisco Gámiz specifies that «what we propose is to use a device that when put in contact with the patient's sample (which can be exudate, plasma, blood or any human fluid that carries virus information) modifies its electrical response (a simple current / voltage measurement) in a few minutes ».
The advantage of the diagnostic chip is that it is "very sensitive" (it detects the presence of the analyte in very low concentrations, and therefore in very early stages of the disease, that is, without symptoms in the patient) and, in addition, it is very selective, that is, it does not give false positives. “The cost is very cheap. Manufacturing these devices in a chain in large numbers would be done with mature conventional electronic technology, and therefore affordable, "he values. He states that «we have already made some validations and prototypes of the device for the detection of the human papilloma virus thanks to a project of excellence of the Board, and we are working on other projects for the detection of glucose level in saliva / sweat in patients with diabetes, and in a more ambitious project for the early detection and follow-up of cancer patients at the Carlos III Health Institute ».
“For the application of the platform for the detection of coronavirus we would need to work with groups of biochemists who will provide us with the detection targets. I can't say how long it could be commercially available, but it shouldn't be a long period, ”says Gámiz.
Rekom Biotech is one of the companies immersed in research on Covid-19. Ana Camacho explains that “we are designing and producing recombinant antigens to detect Covid-19, aimed at companies that manufacture serodiagnosis tests. At present we are making several antigens focused on the protein of the virus spicules and a multi-epitope chimera to improve their antigenic capacity. A serodiagnosis test (to which our product is aimed) measures the presence of antibodies against SARSCoV-2 in the patient's blood. Our antigen is the part of this test that allows us to discriminate between a healthy person and a sick person. It is a replica of the virus proteins, but made in the laboratory and using recombinant DNA technology. ' They are producing these antigens in bacteria and yeast. 'We believe that the latter system can give rise to an antigen with better antigenic characteristics due to its ability to mimic the native folding of the heterologous protein produced. This would lead to a better biomarker and consequently to a faster and more accurate diagnosis ", he clarifies with scientific clues and the best words that can be heard" fast and accurate ".
Valls next to Campos and Lara.
It advances that “we are already selling some of our recombinant antigens for coronavirus detection to American and German companies. However, we continue working to improve their antigenic characteristics and their physicochemical characteristics so that we improve their versatility and they can be used in the various rapid in vitro diagnostic platforms on the market.
Juan Enrique Cruz from the Destina company, "we propose to adapt our chemical technology for nucleic acid detection (currently in use for the detection of severe liver damage), for the detection of SARS-Cov-2". He indicates that «the main advantage that our technology has is that it is completely different from the rest of the techniques and would not suffer, as is currently happening, that there are problems in performing the tests, not only due to the lack of these, but also of accessory reagents that are they need to be able to carry them out. Since our technology works directly from the patient sample without the need for extraction or amplification like current RT-PCR techniques ». They do not have facilities for the packaging and production of the kits, so this part is outsourced.
The Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center of the UGR has another proposal to study the psychological impact that this situation can have on the population. Through the “CoVidAffect” project, the researcher Pandelis Perakakis states, «we intend to analyze this psychological impact and offer real-time data on the emotional state of the Spanish population during this crisis. Through a mobile application, with which we can record the emotional state throughout the day, maps will be generated that will show the geographical distribution and the temporal evolution of the state of mind in the Spanish territory. In addition, we will analyze the data to provide indexes of emotional regulation and psychological resilience, in order to detect situations that possibly require the mobilization of resources for the psychosocial support of the population, and in general facilitate decision-making in crisis management.
Professor Javier Valls from the Department of Criminal Law at the UGR and his team are already working in a very different field. They do it in the Sienna project -already underway- that designs ethical codes and legislative reforms for the proper use of three technologies: Genetics, human improvement and artificial intelligence and robotics and now they propose to extend it to the study and impact on the coronavirus.
El Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada (ibs.GRANADA) Y the Andalusian Public Foundation for Biosanitary Research Eastern Andalusia (FIBAO), the López Neyra Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine, companies and departments focused on the disease based on the patient's genetics are some of the other proposals from more diverse fields. The Medina Foundation has also made available its large screening platform for compounds that may be useful against the virus.