Maria Mota is Principal Investigator and Director of the iMM, and Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. She admits that this is not a pioneering discovery since, “the World Health Organization's diagnosis was copied and Portuguese reagents were used so as not to have shortage of tests”. The technology used for these tests is the same as the one Maria Mota is using for the Malaria parasite. Next to her there are 60 volunteer researchers doing all the necessary tests.
Maria Mota explains how the idea came about and all the steps that were taken, given the inevitability of the supply of diagnostic tests coming from abroad coming to an end. “We started to think: as scientists, how can we help? We can use kits and reagents that we have in Portugal and we think will not run out easily”, she said. And so it was, it all happened in just over a week.
The diagnostic kit has already been accredited by the Dr Ricardo Jorge National Institute of Health. After reading the virus's genetic material, the kit should be ready to be used, with approximately 400 tests per day expected. The first will go to the Portuguese Red Cross.
The next step? Maria Mota says, “now it's testing, testing, testing and implementing it across the country”.
The RTP report can be viewed here: