A close-up of a microscope examining a slide.
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New AI facility to test wastewater will bring 60 jobs to Cork

7 May 2021

The new centre of excellence will help DeepVerge to triple its Irish headcount in 2021, hiring for roles in data science, physics and microbiology.

Scientific research company DeepVerge is expanding its data and technology division in Cork, bringing 60 new jobs to the region.

It is moving to a new facility that will include laboratory and engineering production units and will establish a European centre of excellence for real-time detection of multiple dangerous pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, in water and wastewater systems.

This AI centre will also facilitate the research, development and assembly of the company’s patent-pending optofluidic rigs in order to meet immediate and local demand for infrastructural installations of real-time SARS-CoV-2 detection in Ireland and across Europe.

The expansion will see DeepVerge triple its Irish headcount and the company will be hiring for several high-skilled roles, including epidemiologists, physicists and data scientists.

Founded in 2016, DeepVerge is a science research company that focuses on the production and analysis of bacteria, virus and toxins using AI and data analytics.

Rinocloud is the division of DeepVerge that creates AI-based data solutions to solve pervasive threats to the environment and human wellbeing.

Its solutions have been adapted and installed into DeepVerge’s Microtox and Microtrace units, which were originally designed to detect up to 2,700 contaminants in water.

The systems combine technologies such as microfluidics, photonics and AI using techniques from microengineering, microbiology and artificial intelligence, and have typically been used to detect other harmful pathogens such as E coli.

According to DeepVerge, the units now have the ability to immediately identify SARS-CoV-2 contaminants in wastewater.

In March, the European Commission published recommendations on the systematic surveillance of Covid-19 in wastewater. Last week, the Irish Government announced that a national SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance programme will begin in early May.

DeepVerge’s CEO, Gerry Brandon, said the new facility expands the company’s capability to design produce and assemble instruments on two continents, “playing a key role in Ireland, UK and Europe, detecting and monitoring current and future outbreaks of Covid-19.”

Jenny Darmody
By Jenny Darmody

Jenny Darmody became the editor of Silicon Republic in 2023, having worked as the deputy editor since February 2020. When she’s not writing about the science and tech industry, she’s writing short stories and attempting novels. She continuously buys more books than she can read in a lifetime and pretty stationery is her kryptonite. She also believes seagulls to be the root of all evil and her baking is the stuff of legends.

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