Scotland's Environment Secretary has praised Scottish scientific
institutions which normally focus on infectious diseases in
livestock, environmental security and nutrition for offering
support to tackle coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Scottish Government-funded James Hutton Institute, Scottish
Rural College (SRUC), and Rowett Institute are providing vital
scientific equipment to help with testing and have volunteered
staff to work on projects too.
Environment Secretary said:
“Scotland is proud to have some of the world’s leading science
and research institutions. During this unprecedented global
pandemic, the response of our research institutions in
volunteering staff and laboratory equipment has been great to
see.
“In the long term, their collective expertise and resources could
make a huge difference in accelerating our understanding of, and
refining our response to, this virus.
“More immediately, the provision of PPE and laboratory equipment
will help our frontline NHS staff to carry on with the incredible
work they are doing.”
Background
The James Hutton Institute has loaned:
- two Qiagen QIACube sample processing units to NHS Lanarkshire
and NHS Highland
- Fast Optical 96-Well Reaction Plates and seals for PCR
testing to testing labs in Edinburgh, which are used to analyse
swab samples during testing for COVID-19
Rowett Institute has loaned two ThermoFisher Applied Biosystems
7500 Real Time PCR machines and one Qiagen QIACube sample
processing unit to NHS Grampian. These machines will increase the
number of tests clinical labs can process per day.
The James Hutton Institute is giving international researchers
access to use its High-performance Computing capability to help
analyse COVID-19 DNA sequences. The Institute has donated masks,
safety glasses, over 4500 sterile gloves and more than 1000
overshoes so far to NHS Tayside.
SRUC has provided NHS Dumfries & Galloway with equipment,
oxygen and PPE, including 130 sterile gowns, 600 pairs sterile
gloves, 100 masks, 150 caps, 100 shoe covers, 100 aprons and 3000
examination gloves.
