COVID-19 response fund: HPRU receives funding for two technology projects

Drs Jesus Rodriguez-Manzano (left) and Pantelis Georgiou (right)

Researchers were successful in their applications to the Covid-19 response fund that was set up to support high-impact projects to tackle Covid-19

We are delighted to announce that researchers from our Unit have been successful in their proposals for two multidisciplinary collaborative projects that will use technology to advance the cause against Covid-19.

Our Unit director, Prof Alison Holmes, along with co-Is Pantelis Georgiou (Engineering) and Dr Tim Rawson, Giovanni Satta and Mark Gilchrist (ICHNT), were successful in applying to Imperial's COVID-19 response fund (round 2). The project will develop electronic Clinical Decision Support for Antibiotic Use with COVID-19 Patients.  Given the evolving nature of COVID-19, evidence-based guidelines are not yet available to support antimicrobial prescribing in COVID-19 patients. This tool, which will be developed from an existing, CE-marked locally designed system, will use local, real-time data within the Trust to support dynamic decision-making surrounding antimicrobial prescribing.  The project will be conducted under the auspices of both the Health Protection Research Unit in HCAI and AMR, recently funded for another 5 years and the Centre for Antimicrobial Optimisation, funded through a Department of Health AMR Capital bid which commenced in April 2019.

Our second project will be led by Dr Jesus Rodriguez Manzano, together with co-Is Prof Alison Holmes, Dr Pantelis Georgiou and NHS colleagues. Dr Rodriguez Manzano will lead the development and implementation of a multiplex diagnostic assay for screening of SARS-CoV-2 and twenty-six other common respiratory pathogens which is compatible with conventional real-time PCR instruments. This assay is enabled by a novel and patented methodology that uniquely merges data science, software and molecular biology to dramatically enhance the information output from existing diagnostic instruments, expanding access to multiplexing capabilities.

Both projects build on existing multidisciplinary collaborations between the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Engineering and existing research-focused relationships with the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust team