ART-SARS: Air particle SARS detection

The COVID-19 outbreak has demonstrated how vulnerable our modern society is albeit its technological advancement. Although the effectiveness of different transmission routes has not been fully assessed yet, some first results suggest that the viability of the virus in the atmospheric environment is long enough (in the order of a few hours) to allow transmission through the air, which is hard to control. This is more so considering that asymptomatic cases have the ability to spread the virus in this way, therefore having serious implications for outbreak control strategies.

The main objective of this project is to develop and test a novel monitor that can detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the air. This novel detection system will consist of two parts combining state-of-the-art technologies developed by the two members of the consortium and a low-cost aerosol-to-liquid (AtL) bio sampler that can be used as the first part of the integrated monitoring system for detecting and measuring the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 in the air. Combining such an AtL sampler with a suitable detection system/protocol will yield a system for monitoring SARSCoV- 2 in the air.

The project INNOVATE-COVID/0420/0009 (ART-SARS) is co-funded by the by the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Cyprus through the Research Innovation Foundation

Funding: €68,400.00