Three hundred and twenty Italian projects at the European Union #EUvsVirus hackathon held from 24 to 26 April in search of innovative ideas on how to respond to the epidemic and restart after corona virus. Italy was the country with the largest number of registered participants (over 2,500 people out of 22,600) and four projects – of the 320 with Italian participation and 2,100 overall – speak Tuscan, in part or completely.
There is Hope for example, a project to test the effectiveness of an experimental preparation to be applied to different textile surfaces, including masks, to make them permanently antiviral. The University of Florence, the University of Pisa, the Cnr-Ifc and the Tuscan North-West Local Health Authority are involved, together with Nanopool GmbH and APC Italia – Vetroliquido division.
The Hospitals gathered in Livorno instead participate in the “Tolerability and safety of chlorhexidine and use of PPE” project, a study that focuses on the use of chlorhexidine by operators working on the front line, together with normal personal protective equipment such as overalls, goggles, gloves and masks.
The Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences of the University of Siena is part of the “Nano-Covid” project, while “Respire”, a study on how to reduce the immune storm that triggers the most serious respiratory consequences in Covid patients, is the project proposed by the director of the haematology complex operating unit of the Tuscan North-West Local Health Authority.
“The projects with which Tuscany participated in the hackathon are of great value” commented the vice president and regional councillor for research Monica Barni, as well as ambassador of #EUvsVirus”. “I very much appreciated – she adds – the presence during the debates of various experts from the Universities of Pisa, Siena and the Scuola Normale of Pisa, in support of the work and as members of the jury”. A confirmation, for Barni, of the value of researchers and universities in the region.
