July 23, 2020 Based on positive results published as a preclinical study, potently neutralizing antibodies show promise as a therapy for preventing and treating COVID-19. The monoclonal antibodies were isolated from the blood of a couple from Wuhan, China, who were diagnosed with COVID-19.
July 15, 2020 The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative recently awarded a $433,000 grant to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for laboratory equipment that will accelerate research to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
July 9, 2020 Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Gilead Sciences report that remdesivir greatly inhibited SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in human lung cell cultures and also improved lung function in mice infected with the virus.
May 21, 2020 By “fishing” in a pool of more than one hundred billion potential antibodies — using a piece of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein as bait — infectious disease scientists have isolated human monoclonal antibodies that completely neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.
May 13, 2020 Dengue viruses are estimated to cause ~390 million infections and 100 million cases each year around the globe. Because infection with one of the four unique dengue strains does not provide lasting immunity to the other strains, it has been especially difficult to create an effective vaccine.
May 4, 2020 The N.C. Policy Collaboratory, based at UNC-Chapel Hill, will receive $29 million to study the treatment, community testing and prevention of COVID-19 under a $1.5 billion coronavirus relief package. The University has been on the forefront of national coronavirus research, thanks in large part to the efforts of researchers at the Gillings School.
April 29, 2020 Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, reported that data from an international clinical trial testing the broad-spectrum antiviral drug remdesivir showed “quite good news” and should result in a new standard of care for COVID-19 patients. Remdesivir was co-developed by researchers in the Baric Lab at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.
April 6, 2020 Scientists are hopeful that a new drug — called EIDD-2801 — could change the way doctors treat COVID-19. The antiviral shows promise in reducing lung damage, has finished testing in mice and will soon move to human clinical trials.
March 16, 2020 As countries around the globe work to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 — which causes the illness COVID-19 — researchers and practitioners in every discipline at the Gillings School are turning their expertise into action to support the pandemic response.
January 10, 2020 New research from scientists at the Gillings School reveals that, in mice, remdesivir is more therapeutically effective against the Middle East respiratory coronavirus (MERS-CoV) than comparative antiviral treatments. This broad-spectrum antiviral drug could help public health workers respond more rapidly to coronavirus outbreaks.
