Universidad del Norte inaugurates translational medicine and epidemiology research center

“We are going to help the Colombian Caribbean to identify outbreaks of infections, we are going to work with the ports, in epidemiological surveillance with the National Institute of Health (INS), we are going to validate tests developed in other laboratories in the world and accompany all this development process of the Hospital de la Universidad del Norte”, he noted.

Meanwhile, Mónica Mercado, a researcher and clinical epidemiologist, stated that what was experienced in the covid-19 pandemic demonstrated great shortcomings in the response to health emergencies in the country, including having well-equipped laboratories and trained technical personnel. that can deal with these cases.

For this reason, he highlighted the importance of the inauguration of the Uninorte research center because, according to what he said, it will allow the generation of high-tech and high-level diagnostic capacities in the Caribbean region.

“It allows us to expand and dimension the subject of specialized diagnosis a little more. Universities must have research capacity and more now in basic and applied sciences, this is a center that will have as its main objective to carry out state-of-the-art research with new generation technology and high-containment laboratories that are capable of housing microorganisms with a pandemic nature that they can be guarded,” he said.