The School of Biosciences is supporting Kent hospitals to increase the number of coronavirus tests that can be carried out each day.
The School of Biosciences is supporting Kent hospitals to increase the number of coronavirus tests that can be carried out each day.
Specialist molecular biology equipment, such as quantitative PCR machines, are being loaned to boost the capacity of NHS labs to carry out the coronavirus test to identify infected patients.
More than 30 academics, postdoctoral researchers and PhD students from the School have volunteered to help perform testing at hospitals in the county.
Professor Dan Mulvihill, Head of the School of Biosciences, said: ‘We are in a privileged position to help the NHS and offer resource to help fight this virus. Our volunteers will use their skills to work alongside NHS workers during this time of need and hope to make a difference.’
Dr Jill Shepherd, Programme Director for Biomedical Science at the School, and helping to coordinate the input said: ‘The first thing we wanted to do was to see how we could best support our NHS colleagues. It is a great opportunity for our academics, researchers and students to utilise their molecular biology skills to make a difference here and now.’
Hear more from Dan and Jill about the contribution the School is making in the fight against COVID-19 in our local community on the KMTV news channel.