The Institute of Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), of the University of Valencia and the CSIC, currently leads five research projects around the coronavirus, which have received support from 8 competitive calls and an institutional agreement with the Generalitat Valenciana, with a total budget of 3.2 million euros from different funding sources. The center also maintains contracts with 7 companies to resolve problems related to COVID-19.

Waiting for certain public and private organizations to approve the financing of new projects presented by the I²SysBio To the different calls in progress, the Institute has the budget to research fundamentally in three lines: epidemiology and environmental virology, therapy and diagnosis.

In the first case, this research center located in the Scientific Park of the University of Valencia works, on the one hand, to determine the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in environmental samples and its potential for indirect transmission; and on the other, in a comparative study of the genomes of the new coronavirus detected in COVID-19 patients, which will help to better understand and predict its evolution and epidemiological potential.

In the field of therapies, two projects related to antivirals and detection of antibodies have been funded. Based on a fast, safe, cheap and efficient system, ANTICOR is a high-throughput platform for the screening and evaluation of drugs and antivirals that block the entry of SARS-CoV-2. On the other hand, the institute is carrying out CoV2TIP, a study to counteract the progression of COVID-19 through the use of therapeutic interference particles (TIPs).

One of the latest projects to receive funding is COV-CRISPIS, a new coronavirus diagnostic system – rapid, specific and portable – based on CRISPR-Cas technologies. The researchers responsible and the details of all the aforementioned initiatives can be consulted in the research projects section of the I²SysBio website.

At the moment, awaiting results in different calls, there have been resolved in favor of more than 60% of the proposals presented by the Institute of Integrative Systems Biology. The projects have already received funding from the COVID-19 Fund of the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), from the Interdisciplinary Thematic Platform (PTI) of the CSIC Global Health, which has the support of the MAPFRE Foundation; of the Supera COVID-19 Fund of the CRUE, the CSIC and Banco Santander, and of the Generalitat Valenciana, through the call to the Valencian innovation system in the fight against COVID-19.

In addition, the I²Sysbio has managed contracts with seven private companies interested in the analysis of the viability of the virus in different environments and materials or in the effect of disinfectant agents, among other issues.

• Access to projects