D’Andrea & Evers joined the combined efforts of 5 more companies, to develop a reliable rapid virus test under the name of VIRAPOC.

The VIRAPOC team is developing a lab-on-a-chip based test platform to rapidly diagnose a virus infection (< 30 minutes). A vital part of such a virus test is the amplification (multiplication) of collected DNA. In the current Covid test lanes this is done using the PCR method. In this method, the reaction proceeds by passing through different temperature stages. However, heating and cooling the material to exact temperatures is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

The test the VIRAPOC team is working on uses the so-called LAMP method (loop-mediated isothermal amplification). The advantage of this method is that it can be performed at a constant temperature and is just as reliable as the traditional PCR method. This makes LAMP much faster and more suitable for use outside of a laboratory environment. Only small, simple equipment is needed for this test, making it cheaper and easier to scale up than the PCR tests. In virus outbreaks, such as the current Corona pandemic, it is possible to perform a large number of assays in a short period of time with this simpler test, which could make a significant difference in the fight against the spread of the virus.

Grants for this project were given by the European Union via OP Oost.

We moved from Enter to Enschede after more than 15 years, great projects and inspiring atmosphere.

Now we are located in the old Polaroid Factory near the City Centre of Enschede. We temporarily stay in the Gebouw West, before we move into the old Kettle-House (Gebouw Zuid) of the Performance Factory (see image). Currently, we share our location with the Dutch Reisopera and Avelijn and hope to get inspired by the creatives in our new found environment. Every day, the scent of freshly baked bread and cookies fill the air, and every now and then you hear people sing and dance. When we take a look outside of our window, we see the different church towers watching over Enschede city and its charming cityscape.

The Performance Factory is a hub for creatives, the arts and business. We see a lot of potential in building our future base here.

Our current work situation changed dramatically from the way we used to work in recent years. We are advised to work from home. This diversion from our ingrained working habits has a big impact on our brain and the efficiency with which we work.

That is why we participated in a brain-training session by Skils – Zorg van de Zaak. We were introduced to the different ways, our brains get distracted, what the differences between distraction and defocus are, and how to integrate it into our own working ways.

We are a small company with different personalities and characters. All of us react differently to the overflow of impressions during our workday. It is important to keep these differences in mind and respect when colleagues seek to spend focus moments or take some time off the screen to defocus. This increased awareness is a great start for a more empathic and efficient work environment.

As designers at D’Andrea & Evers we are always at the forefront of technological, material and business trends. We have a responsibility to work towards a future that is desirable for our clients, but also the end consumer and the world on a global scale. We won’t be able to save the planet, but by staying on top of the possibilities and opportunities that recycled plastics and other more sustainable material alternatives offer, we can provide deeper insights to our clients and indicate opportunities to make an impact on our footprints.

For this reason, we invited Gerrit Klein Nagelvoort, an expert in this field, to share his knowledge with us, and also give us the chance to ask the specific and relevant questions, that we face every day. We learned a lot about the recyclability of the different plastics and were able to gather impressions of how recycled plastics look and behave under real-life conditions.