Santander to finance five research projects on the virus by Galician universities

The Santander group is allocating more than 770,000 euros to five research projects on COVID-19 launched by Galician universities (Vigo, Santiago de Compostela, and A Coruña). The funds come from the Supera COVID-19 Fund, within the framework of the 30 million euros that the entity made available from its patronage in education to support projects that deal with the virus and its consequences.

The Fund, developed in collaboration with Crue Spanish Universities and the CSIC (the Spanish National Research Council), has a budget of 8.5 million, of which 5 million have been allocated to research. 1 million for social impact studies and 2.5 million for strengthening the technological capacity of universities and reducing the digital divide. 

The development of a vaccine against SARS-COV-2 using micro/nanospheres, the detection of the virus in wastewater treatment plants and marine bio-indicators, and the implementation of a web tool for making predictions and analysing the evolution of COVID-19, are some of the research projects led by the three Galician universities whose projects have been selected by the Supera COVID-19 Fund, from among 700 presented throughout Spain: 

1. The University of Santiago de Compostela is leading a project to develop a Spanish vaccine against SARS-COV-2 using muNS-Mi microspheres, based on a new methodology of its own and patented by the University, led by the researcher José Martínez Costas and his group from the Centro Singular de Investigación en Química Biológica y Materiales Moleculares, CIQUS. A vaccine that, if all goes well and the deadlines are successfully met, could be available throughout the coming year.
2. The University of Vigo is leading three projects: the so-called DIMCoVAR project for the detection, infection and modelling of SARS-CoV-2 through analysis in wastewater treatment plants and marine bio-indicators; SERSforSARS, a project that is developing an ultra-sensitive test for the detection of COVID-19 and EPICOVIGAL that analyses the evolution and circulation of the virus in Galicia through the genomic analysis of 1,000 patients with COVID-19 to subsequently contribute to decision-making in the fight against the pandemic. 
3. The University of La Coruña, for its part, is leading a project selected by the Supera COVID Fund, FORECOOP, which is developing a web tool that, while monitoring the evolution of the pandemic, provides predictions based on different combined prediction models.