CENSO Biotechnologies, a specialist biotech company, has joined the COVID-19 volunteer testing network, offering free coronavirus testing for GPs and other front-line health care professionals.
The COVID-19 Volunteer Testing Network is supplementing the Government’s official testing programme and Edinburgh-based Censo Bio, the first Scottish lab to take part, will be able to provide same-day results.
Health professionals will be able to be tested as regularly as weekly, even if they show no symptoms, with no limit on how many times they can be tested.
Mike Hawthorne, Censo Biotechnologies chief executive officer, said: “Hospital doctors are not being tested currently unless they are symptomatic. Our participation in this network will allow Scottish frontline staff whether they are presenting symptoms or not to be tested and tested as often as weekly.”
The COVID-19 Volunteer Testing Network was launched by Mike Fischer, the entrepreneur who founded the stock photography company Alamy, and has donated an initial £1m funding to establish the project.
Mr Hawthorne added: “The overall strategy is for this to become a local service with labs all over Scotland offering testing to frontline workers in their area. However, as we are currently the first and only lab in Scotland who are part of the COVID-19 Volunteer Testing Network we are more than happy to test samples from anywhere in the country.”
Based in Roslin and established in 2005, Censo Biotechnologies’ research is focused on using stem cell technology to enable the discovery and development of new targeted treatments for neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases including Alzheimer’s and Motor Neurone Disease.
