It mainly deals with routine hospital diagnostics.
The Centre for Emerging Viral Diseases is equipped with a P3 and P4D biosafety laboratory, a highly secure environment for handling category 3 pathogens for diagnosis and research, and class 4 pathogens for diagnosis.
The centre's diagnostic expertise is the result of various projects and collaborations - in particular with the virology laboratory, the CRIVE, the CNRI, the CNRR, as well as the reference laboratory for COVID-19 run by Professor Isabella Eckerle's research group.
Virology Laboratory
National Reference Centre for Emerging Viral Diseases (CRIVE)
The centre's primary mission is to ensure that laboratory tests for diagnosing infection by an emerging virus in humans are developed, validated and implemented as quickly as possible throughout Switzerland.
National Reference Centre for Influenza (CNRI)
The centre's aim is to detect as quickly as possible new influenza strains that could trigger a new pandemic.
The national reference centre for influenza is also responsible for monitoring influenza strains in Switzerland and for sequencing and characterising circulating strains.
The National Reference Centre for Measles and Rubella (CNRRR)
Designated by both the FOPH and the WHO as a reference laboratory, the aim of this project is to carry out epidemiological surveillance of measles and rubella in Switzerland and to make sequencing data available in global databases, so that the results obtained in Switzerland can be integrated into a global context.