VIASEF is the new infrastructure of the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Last June, the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine of the New University of Lisbon (IHMT-NOVA) inaugurated the "VIASEF-In Vivo Arthropod Security Facility", a new scientific infrastructure funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) as part of the National Research Infrastructure Roadmap. The inauguration was attended by the Vice-President of the FCT Board of Directors, José Paulo Esperança.

VIASEF, located on the premises of IHMT-NOVA, consists of a high security infrastructure (ACL3), which offers the academic, scientific and business community the possibility of developing "in vivo" studies with native, invasive, exotic or transgenic arthropods, vectors of pathogens that cause human diseases.

This infrastructure also provides safe laboratory conditions for developing projects with human pathogens (vector-borne or otherwise), including those classified as level 3 biological risk (e.g. chikungunya virus, corona, or multidrug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis).

More information on the IHMT-NOVA website