We are delighted to announce that following hundreds of nominations, our technicians and professional staff at the CVR have been shortlisted for a prestigious national award in recognition of their critical role in the national pandemic response.

The Papin Prize celebrating the achievements of UK technicians in higher education and research have recognised the ISARIC clinical characterisation consortium (ISARIC4C) outbreak laboratory and the Lighthouse Laboratory (LLiG) technician teams for their national contribution to the COVID-19 response.

From the beginning of the pandemic, technicians in the Faculty of Health and Life Science at the University of Liverpool and the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research were integral to the establishment of outbreak laboratories for the UK arm of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infections Consortium (ISARIC). This study is the largest prospective study of COVID-19 in the world, and is a key part of the Urgent Public Health Research response to COVID-19 in the UK.

In response to the nomination, Sarah McDonald at the outbreak laboratory said: “I’m very proud that we have been shortlisted for this prize in recognition of the huge team effort it has been to establish the ISARIC4C Outbreak Laboratories. The support of our colleagues and collaborators has been invaluable throughout the pandemic.”

Our CL3 manager Angela Elliott shares the excitement for the nomination: “We are all really surprised and delighted at the nomination. We, CVR, are fortunate that we were in a position to respond immediately to the emerging pandemic both with the Containment level 3, Richard Elliott Biosafety Laboratories and the highly trained individuals able to apply their experience and expertise to participate in the global response.”

The CVR staff nominated are Angela Elliott, Sarah McDonald, Joyce Mitchell, Aislynn Taggart, Siddharth Bakshi, Benjamin Brennan, Sarah Cole, Christopher Davis, Oslem Dincarslan, Annette Lake, Daniella Lefteri, Maria Mancini and Agnieska Szemiel. 

The technicians at Liverpool and Glasgow collaborated to receive, process and distribute, in a safe and timely fashion, consented human material from NHS hospitals to research groups across the UK, enabling a fast response to the rapidly developing COVID-19 pandemic. With over 25,000 human samples from 2,300 patients distributed to 24 research groups, the CVR’s technicians showed tremendous innovation that warrants recognition and celebration. Make sure you stay updated on the progress of the award and the winners, to be announced on November 10th at the Higher Education Technician Summit (HET).

 

 


First published: 27 October 2021

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