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FCT and AICIB launch portal "Science 4 COVID-19

FCT and the Agency for Clinical Research and Biomedical Innovation (AICIB) launched this Friday, April 3, the portal Science 4 COVID-19in partnership with the National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge, health authorities and public and private scientific research institutions, aiming to be another tool in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Science 4 COVID-19 consists of a platform that brings together ideas, publications and ongoing actions, the identification of available installed capacity and research groups, providing means of collaborative online work on these elements, as well as mechanisms for direct communication between users with the aim of promoting interaction and collaboration among all.

The ideas, actions and publications submitted are previously validated by a technical and scientific validation commission composed by Catarina Oliveira (President of the Directive Council of AICIB), Patrícia Calado (Member of the Directive Council of AICIB), Cristina Abreu Santos (Member of the Directive Council of the Ricardo Jorge Institute) and Nuno Feixa Rodrigues (Member of the Directive Council of FCT), using whenever necessary entities of recognized scientific and professional merit to support the analysis and framing of the initiatives submitted in the various specific areas of application.

This digital platform compiles resources available for use in Research and Development (R&D) projects and activities aimed at combating the Covid-19 pandemic caused by the new coronavirus, in line with the National Disease Preparedness and Response Plan of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), as well as the strategies of other European and international health authorities.

The portal groups together a broad spectrum of initiatives from the Portuguese scientific community, ranging from social and charitable actions, such as the identification and provision of personal protective equipment to health professionals; to engineering, such as the adaptation, development, and manufacture of various models of ventilators; to the clinical and biomedical area, such as new screening protocols for coronavirus; to communication, such as the creation of informative and educational materials on coronavirus for dissemination in the PALOP countries.

The Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, signs the preface of the Science 4 COVID-19 portal, pointing out that in the response to the current epidemiological situation "it is important to mobilize researchers and their institutions with the necessary capacity to effectively implement the efforts underway, as well as mobilize other national scientific and technological institutes, companies and health technicians to ensure the effective implementation of various actions.