News & Updates

In the effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus and treat infected patients, special equipment that performs cutting-edge research at Montana State University has been repurposed to help Gallatin County health care providers. Before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, formally named SARS-CoV-2, a machine in MSU researcher Michelle Flenniken's lab called a qPCR analyzer was used to detect viruses that attack bees and other pollinators around the state. Now it has been temporarily moved to Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital, where the tool can perform up to 60 much-needed COVID-19 tests per day.

Scientists at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center are part of a national viral genomics consortium to better map SARS-CoV-2 transmission via whole genome sequencing of the virus that causes COVID-19. The SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing for Public Health Emergency Response, Epidemiology and Surveillance (SPHERES) consortium led by the CDC kicked off in May 2020. Dr. Daryl Domman, PhD an Assistant Professor in the Center for Global Heath in the Department of Internal Medicine and Dr. Darrell L. Dinwiddie, PhD an Assistant Professor in the Division of Genetics in the Department of Pediatrics are leading the efforts for the states of New Mexico and Wyoming. They have established partnerships with the New Mexico Department of Health and the Wyoming Public Health Lab to sequence positive cases from those states are also working to join with other public health labs in the Mountain West region.

The Department of Defense has selected six collaborative teams as winners of the Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR) competition. Each team will receive up to $600,000 over a three-year period of performance to pursue science and engineering research in areas relevant to DOD initiatives supporting the National Defense Strategy.

The nation’s battle against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic gained new muscle this week with an $8.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to the National Institute for Innovation in Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing (NIIMBL). NIIMBL, a public-private partnership headquartered at the University of Delaware and part of the Manufacturing USA network, will use the money to expand testing and diagnostic capability, address problems in the supply chain and help develop approaches to accelerate manufacturing once a vaccine has been developed and approved for use.

Melanie Moses, a professor of computer science and biology at the University of New Mexico, has been awarded National Science Foundation funding to understand how human lungs respond to viral pathogens like COVID-19. With the help of research assistant Vanessa Surjadidjaja, Moses hopes to answer how within-host infection dynamics affect between-host transmission. More specifically, how the spatial interactions of virus and immune response within hosts affects transmission between hosts, Moses said.

Using the expertise at West Virginia University, we seek to answer questions about coronavirus (COVID-19): What is it? How can I stay safe? We'll also learn more about viruses and how they work, as well as how West Virginia and the University are responding to the global pandemic that caused the world to go into lockdown.

The West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI) and WVU Medicine, in conjunction with Oura Health, have addressed a major concern regarding the spread of COVID-19. The RNI has created a digital platform that can detect COVID-19 related symptoms up to three days before they show up. One of the obstacles in fighting COVID-19 is that asymptomatic individuals can spread the virus before they realize they are infected.

Researchers in the University of Kentucky College of Nursing’s BREATHE (Bridging Research Efforts and Advocacy Toward Healthy Environments), in conjunction with the Kentucky Geological Survey, the UK College of Public Health, Area Health Education Centers (AHEC), and other community partners in Kentucky were awarded a $2.6 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to engage and educate citizens of Kentucky on the increased risk of lung cancer due to environmental exposures from radon and tobacco smoke.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has teamed up with Fairbanks Memorial Hospital to produce hand sanitizer. The chemistry laboratory in the College of Natural Science and Mathematics’ Reichardt Building is putting its quarantined facilities to good use. Normally bustling with student activity, the area is instead being used to produce hand sanitizer, which Fairbanks Memorial Hospital is running in short supply of.