The Eurecat technology centre and the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) have inked a partnership agreement to enable the UIB’s Nutrigenomics research group and Eurecat’s Biotechnology division to launch joint research initiatives on ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) and related areas mainly focused on respiratory and viral diseases.
The purpose of the partnership is to enable researchers from the UIB, Eurecat and other research groups and companies around the world to undertake high-value scientific research with ferrets which could speed up the development of vaccines and drugs to combat viruses causing infectious respiratory diseases, such as SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus which triggers COVID-19 disease.
Eurecat’s Biotechnology division is headed by Dr Antoni Caimari and has vast experience in searching for health, diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers using a wide range of omic sciences along with analysing and integrating data obtained by these techniques (systems biology) to determine the biochemical mechanisms involved in a drug or vaccine’s action.
