The first batch of equipment purchased by Alexander Yaroslavsky, the businessman, is being shipped for the "Expert Laboratory for Diagnostic and Infectious Diseases and Sanitary Protection" centre of virology which he is creating as part of the Ecopolis HTZ project,” said Hennadiy Kernes, the Kharkiv city mayor.
“The future All-Ukrainian Virology Centre in Kharkiv based on the Ecopolis HTZ is starting to take on a material form. We just talked with Alexander Yaroslavsky, and he said that the first batch of laboratory equipment which costs UAH 15 million is now being shipped from the warehouse in Kyiv. It is a technique from the leading American manufacturer ThermoFisher Scientific, a world leader in biotechnology. The laboratory complex will be delivered to Kharkiv in the nearest days. It follows both a practical (diagnostic) purpose and a scientific purpose, i.e. not only to establish whether the patient is sick, but also to receive invaluable data for the development of further treatment taking into account the unique genetic characteristics of both the pathogen and the person, plus conduct scientific research to effectively fight all the types of coronaviruses, as well as pathogens of other infectious diseases. It is the equipment of the latest generation, which will be used for targeted control of infectious diseases for the first time in Ukraine. And this is the core around which we will create a world-class virology centre – the "Expert Laboratory and Diagnostic Centre for Infectious Diseases and Sanitary Protection". That is Kharkiv's intellectual leadership in action!” the Kharkiv mayor posted in his Telegram channel.
DCH told that the “Expert Laboratory for Diagnostic Centre" will receive the equipment allowing to work effectively with rapidly mutating (having high genetic variability) viruses on Friday. The technology for studying the entire genome of the coronavirus will make it possible to make forecasts for new outbreaks of the epidemic and the process of its further spread, as well as to develop targeted drugs. Thanks to the use of a set of highly specific universal primers for the coronavirus COVID-19 in combination with a high-precision master mix, all genomic regions are amplified and sequenced in less than a day. ThermoFisher Scientific, the supplier of the laboratory complex, specializes in the manufacture of scientific instruments, reagents and consumables, as well as software and services for healthcare, science, academic laboratories in the US government and industry sectors, including for biotechnological and pharmaceutical research.
As was reported, the “Expert Laboratory and Diagnostic Centre for Infectious Diseases and Sanitary Protection” in the Ecopolis HTZ business innovation ecosystem will do research to develop vaccines against the coronavirus and will subsequently become the leading Ukrainian centre in the field of medical development and technology. The Virology Centre will be created based on the medical centre of Kharkiv Tractor Plant, which is the industrial anchor of the future technology park. The team of employees of the “Expert Laboratory and Diagnostic Centre for Infectious Diseases and Sanitary Protection” will be composed of leading Ukrainian virologists, who will be provided with all conditions for productive work in Kharkiv.
The Ecopolis HTZ is an innovative business ecosystem based on the production facilities of HTZ owned by Yaroslavsky. After the redevelopment of the enterprise’s territory in free areas, a multifunctional business system will be formed, including various areas and clusters such as the industrial park, IT, logistics, trade, research, educational and medical clusters. The projected investment in the project will amount to $1 billion, giving Kharkiv more than 10 thousand new high-tech jobs.
