Abraham Hazoury, chief executive officer at the Iberoamerican University (Unibe), announced the start of operations of the Molecular Biology Laboratory and the National Observatory of Emerging Pandemics and Pathogens.
The new facilities are under the Deanship of Research and Innovation and of the Institute of Tropical Medicine and Global Health (IMTSAG) at the capital city university.
Hazoury said the new facilities are inaugurated after an agreement was reached with the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD) and the National Health Service (SNS). The initiative has the backing of Seeding Labs.
Hazoury said the new center is a qualitative jump in scientific research in the country. He explained the lab allows for automating the processes of isolation and molecular analysis, placing the institute at the vanguard of studies of emergent pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19.
Hazoury said that the university’s School of Architecture has developed specialized devices to handle samples.
Hazoury thanked state institutions and private companies that have contributed to these initiatives from the beginning. In the opening ceremony, he mentioned Seeding Labs and its directors, Melissa Wu and Leah Lindsay; the Ministry of Public Health and its minister, Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas, and Dr. Altagracia Matos Medina; the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development, headed by its minister Juan Ariel Jiménez; the National Health Service, together with its directors Chanel Rosa Chupany, Dr. Noldis Naut Suberví, Emmanuel Moquete and María González; the Response Committee for the Combat of Covid-19, headed by Dr. Amado Alejandro Báez; and the company Aeropaq together with Carlos Mejía.
He also mentioned the contributions of Dr. Robert Paulino-Ramirez, Dr. Odile Camilo, Grace Cochon, Dr. Aida Mencia-Ripley, Dr. Leandro Feliz Matos, architect Sandra Gómez, Dr. Sagrario Feliz, Rafael Vargas Lopez, Zaidy Rijo, Antonio Perpignan and Wenceslao Reyes.
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Seeding Labs
Unibe
Unibe
6 August 2020