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

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

The VIASEF, located in the IHMT-NOVA facilities, 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 to develop projects with human pathogens (vector-borne or otherwise), including those classified as level 3 biological risks (e.g. chikungunya virus, coronavirus, or multidrug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis).

More information at IHMT-NOVA website