Team plans biohazard detection technology

THE detection of MRSA and other hospital bugs could help save lives and improve patient care for thousands of people around the world — and the technology to do it is being developed by Irish scientists.

The project to find ways of recording biohazards in hospitals to a central network is just one aspect of the work planned under a €13.5 million research plan to be led by a team at Cork Institute of Technology, where lead researcher Dirk Pesch explained the use of Network Embedded Systems.

“Embedded systems are like small computers or microprocessors that are part of everyday devices. In a car, for example, a microprocessor controls the airbag which is inflated when a car crashes,” he said.