The epidemic has shown how important researchers are to Serbia

Our largest laboratory for the examination of corona-infected viruses - "Huo-yan National Laboratory for Molecular Detection of Infectious Agents Belgrade" was opened at the Clinical Center of Serbia, with the assistance of the Beijing Institute of Genomics, under the auspices of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

The Beijing Institute of Genomics is the world leader in sequencing genetic material for virus research. The most responsible for establishing a connection between this institute and the Government of the Republic of Serbia is Dr. Radoje Drmanac, our extremely successful molecular biologist, but also a successful businessman who has lived in the USA for a long time.
State Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development prof. Vladimir Popovic, PhD, said that testing of samples of patients suspected to be positive for the corona virus began Thursday, April 23rd.

To help fight the epidemic, researchers from the institute and from the faculty, who are under the auspices of our ministry, have gathered. There are 45 of them, from 10 scientific institutions. Most come from the Institute for Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering and the Sinisa Stankovic Institute for Biological Research, he said.

The State Secretary pointed out that the Ministry is proud of these researchers, who have volunteered in difficult circumstances, as well as at least 40 more, who have been employed at the Torlak Institute, the National Reference Laboratory in Batajnica and other laboratories.

Popovic said that this epidemic also showed how important researchers are to Serbia and how developed our science is. He said he has noticed the incredible enthusiasm that some of our researchers have shown over the past month in their efforts to help systemically combat the pandemic.

Popovic said that, first of all, he was referring to the work of 22 researchers from institutes and faculties across the country, gathered by the Ministry in a working group, led by coordinators Dr Marina Sokovic, Assistant Minister for Science, and prof. Prof. Tatjana Pekmezovic, Vice Dean for Teaching at the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade.

Every day, they analyze the world's most relevant scientific papers and significant, proven sources around the globe. They then prepare and forward brief written information, which we send daily to the Prime Minister's Cabinet and the Health Crisis Staff, of which I am a member. These are recommendations that are often frontier research in science and bring the latest therapies, but some of that information and that knowledge can be used immediately in the activities of our physicians and in the fight against the epidemic in general. Several of these proposals have been accepted and their implementation is ongoing, which also makes us proud, Popovic said.

He said that when it came to establishing the laboratory, there was cooperation with the Ministry of Health, and that all the laboratory equipment had come from China. The size of this research center is indicated by the fact that a minimum of 2,000 tests will be done daily, raising Serbia's testing capacity by more than 50%.

The director of the Institute for Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering and the coordinator of this laboratory, Dr. Jelena Begovic, assessed that everything was ready to start testing the samples in the laboratory "Fire Eye" and that the initial phase of work had been successfully completed. She stated that the whole process, from the moment when the sample test begins to the results, takes five hours.

Automation is the most important part of the process that takes a long time in manual testing. Now the whole procedure is shortened and this will help us to significantly increase the number of samples being processed, said Jelena Begovic.

Dr Begovic explained that the large Fire Eye Laboratory, which covers an area of ​​750 square meters, has four smaller laboratories. According to her, the laboratory will also be of great benefit when the pandemic of the coronal virus passes, as it will be used to diagnose infectious agents - viruses and bacteria.

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