COVID-19
Developing new therapies and getting them to patients is long and difficult. During public health emergencies, such as the Covid-19 Pandemic, science must move faster than ever. That is where translational science comes in. Translational science is focused on streamlining the process of moving (“translating”) lab findings into medical practice and treatments to improve health and well-being.
NCATS is supporting research activities spanning the translational science spectrum to address the novel coronavirus 2019 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease it causes (COVID-19). To accelerate translational research, NCATS has developed research tools, technologies, expertise and collaborative networks that can quickly pivot to address urgent public health issues.
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Columbia University
The mission of the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research is to advance discoveries, knowledge, and innovation to improve human health across the lifespan for diverse populations in upper Manhattan and around the world. By mobilizing and connecting Columbia University’s researchers, we aim to create a seamless integration of community and academic partnerships. Our commitment to train a multi-faceted workforce, provide vital resources to researchers, and improve the efficiency of research processes, promotes the collaborative team science framework needed to translate research discoveries into effective interventions that address current and future health concerns.
We provide over 70 different services and programs focused on education and training, seed funding, bioinformatics, biostatistics, clinical research, lifespan research and special populations, regulatory knowledge and bioethics, an off-site community facility and health informatics websites. 
October 08, 2021Sense of smell or taste returns within six months for 4 out of every 5 COVID-19 survivors who have lost these senses, and those under 40 are more likely to recover these senses than older adults, an ongoing Virginia Commonwealth University study found. Among 798 respondents to the ongoing COVID-19 smell and taste loss survey who had tested positive for COVID-19 and reported a loss of smell or
October 06, 2021Inflammasomes were discovered in 2002, and almost 20 years later, the number of diseases for which the molecule has treatment implications continues to expand. “It’s amazing how the implications are growing to so many different diseases, whether it’s gout, heart disease, cancer or addiction,” said P. Srirama Rao, Ph.D., VCU’s vice president for research and innovation. “Even more recently, in the
October 04, 2021Efforts to educate and promote the COVID-19 vaccine continue and rates have gone up, but there are still communities struggling to get vaccinated. Whether low vaccination rates are due to misinformation or lack of accessibility, it has become apparent that not all communities in the U.S. are suffering in the same ways from the COVID-19 pandemic. Several groups in California have made it their
September 30, 2021As the country rides a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, it faces a riptide that’s threatening its course. The delta variant, the now-predominant strain of coronavirus, prompted President Joe Biden’s call for booster shots for all vaccinated adults on Aug. 18 and underscored discussions at a research summit that ran parallel to the president’s nationwide address. “This is, of course, something
- University Of Southern California
COVID-19 has thrown a wrench into research conduct, forcing hospitals and universities to transfer their research plans, data collection procedures, survey dissemination processes, and participant engagement methods quickly and nimbly to online venues. In addition, the state of research operations has changed dramatically due to the pandemic. This guide provides key considerations for ensuring
September 29, 2021In the early days of the pandemic, with commercial COVID tests in short supply, Rockefeller’s Robert B. Darnell developed an in-house assay to identify positive cases within the Rockefeller community. It turned out to be easier and safer to administer than the tests available at the time, and it has been used tens of thousands of times over the past nine months to identify and isolate infected
September 23, 2021Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, program director of the UC Davis CTSC Community Engagement program, was invited to provide commentary on another team's publication. The article, published Sept. 15, focuses on farmworkers’ lack of access to health care during COVID-19.
September 13, 2021Washington University ICTS supported research shows that rapid saliva test screenings – aimed at early detection of the virus – contributed to exceedingly low transmission of the virus among students, teachers and staff in the six schools overseen by the Special School District of St. Louis County, the largest specialized education provider in Missouri.
September 13, 2021Nearly 90% of people taking immunosuppressants to treat autoimmune conditions produce an antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination, but the response is weaker than those generated by healthy people, according to a study by ICTS researchers at Washington University School of Medicine.
September 09, 2021LITTLE ROCK — A University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) research team has identified a potential cause of long-lasting symptoms experienced by COVID-19 patients, often referred to as long-haulers. The findings were published in the journal, The Public Library of Science ONE (PLOS ONE). At the heart of the team’s findings is an antibody that shows up weeks after an initial infection and
August 27, 2021Virginia Commonwealth University is launching a study of the impact of COVID-19 on twins to try to determine why some people experience symptoms much longer than others. The Twin 360 project, which began this week, will help researchers understand the genetic and environmental factors for why some people experience lasting symptoms after contracting COVID-19. And the research will inform possible
August 23, 2021Could the next therapy for COVID-19 already be at your local pharmacy? A new groundbreaking study from the University of Michigan’s Center for Drug Repurposing (CDR) reveals several drug contenders already in use for other purposes—including one dietary supplement—that have been shown to block or reduce SARS-CoV-2 infection in cells. The study, published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, uses artificial intelligence-powered image analysis of human cell lines during infection with the novel coronavirus.
August 17, 2021Despite causing a surge in infections this summer that has resulted in thousands of hospitalizations and deaths, the delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 is not particularly good at evading the antibodies generated by vaccination, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers analyzed a panel of antibodies generated by
August 13, 2021Researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School are collaborating with the Mayo Clinic to test the use of a senolytic therapy against COVID-19. The therapy targets the fundamental biology of aging. Initial findings, published June 8 in Science, suggest that using drugs to clear out older, damaged cells could reduce the inflammation and immune system overreaction that leads to severe or
August 10, 2021A mentor in our summer internship program discusses research with her mentee investigating stress and post-traumatic growth during COVID-19. Patrizia Vannini, PhD, is an assistant professor of neurology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and an investigator in Massachusetts General Hospital’s Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. A faculty lead for our Grant Review and Support Program (GRASP)
July 23, 2021The CCTSI responded to the pandemic by issuing a rapid-release RFA to address COVID-19. CCTSI leaders called it the COVID-19-Rapid Research Pilot Program. They released the RFA on Monday evening, March 30 and closed the application process just four days later. This new pilot grant program supported the development of novel diagnostic and treatment methods and innovative technologies related to
July 23, 2021LITTLE ROCK — A statewide COVID-19 antibody study led by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) found that by the end of 2020, 7.4% of Arkansans had antibodies to the virus, but there were wide disparities among racial and ethnic groups. UAMS researchers released their findings this week to a public database, medRxiv (med archive). The study included analysis of more than 7,500
July 22, 2021The CTSA program was developed to accelerate new treatments from the lab to patients, enabled to a large extent by patients participating in and benefiting from clinical trials. Clinical trials provide that needed bridge from human subjects to hypotheses to treatments that can directly benefit human health. And, never has this connection been more critical than amid the global COVID-19 pandemic
July 20, 2021No champion race car driver can win without a dedicated pit crew. The same is true in medical research. Thanks to their “pit crew” Mayo Clinic researchers were able to repurpose an experimental therapy, called lenzilumab, for patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, and from there into a phase three clinical trial — all in about one year. "I think we’ve accomplished in this year what normally would take
July 20, 2021Our summer intern discusses her research evaluating healthcare spending & clinical outcomes among disadvantaged populations. Where do you go to school, and what are you studying? I’m an MD-PhD student at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m currently in the graduate phase of my training and am studying epidemiology. Who is your mentor and what is your project? I’m excited to be working with
July 18, 2021With funding from CTSI, University of Minnesota researchers worked with local Indigenous community partners to develop evidence-based and culturally appropriate COVID-19 resources, creating three distinct fact sheets on staying healthy and staying connected during the pandemic. The project, “Helping Indigenous communities stay connected in light of COVID-19,” was conducted by the Memory Keepers
- Journal of Clinical and Translational Science
Introduction: With no approved treatments for COVID-19 initially available, the Food and Drug Administration utilized multiple preapproval pathways to provide access to investigational agents and/or medical devices: Expanded Access, Emergency Use Authorizations, and Clinical Trials.
-Emory UniversityThe 34th Healthcare Innovation Symposium will be held on Wednesday, July 14, 2021, 12:00-2:00 pm online via Zoom. The topic is Regenerative Medicine for COVID: Hope or Hype? Regenerative medicine cell therapies have shown great potential to modulate inflammatory and degenerative disorders. This symposium will review the rationale and current use of cell therapies to treat patients with COVID
July 07, 2021Sample code templates developed by the iTHRIV CTSA team enable rapid analytics onboarding to the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) Data Enclave. The National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) Data Enclave is an analytics platform containing clinical data from electronic health records from over 55 sites around the country. This data from SARS-CoV-2 positive patients (and matched controls)
VCU Wright Center: COVID-19 survivor and ACTIV-1 trials participant looks forward to traveling again
July 06, 2021When Linda Thompson retired from the Virginia Department of Transportation in 2019, she started a new job the next day — getting fit. “My new job was going to American Family Fitness and getting in the pool and doing water aerobics,” said Thompson, 72. “I was really in bad shape when I retired. So it was time for me to take care of Linda.” Thompson lost 60 pounds over the next year. The exercise
June 29, 2021The first two COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) employed a technology that had never before been used in FDA-approved vaccines. Both vaccines performed well in clinical trials, and both have been widely credited with reducing disease, but concerns remain over how long immunity induced by the new vaccine technology will last. Now, a study from
June 24, 2021COVID-19 has widened the life expectancy gap across racial groups and between the U.S. and peer countries. U.S. life expectancy decreased by 1.87 years between 2018 and 2020, a drop not seen since World War II, according to new research from Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Colorado Boulder and the Urban Institute. The numbers are even worse for people of color. On average
June 24, 2021Community health workers and health equity teams across Kansas have partnered with the University of Kansas Medical Center to launch a multimedia campaign "Community Health Workers Beat the Virus" in seven different languages to encourage COVID-19 testing and vaccination among under-resourced populations. This initiative is part of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics for Underserved Populations
June 24, 2021The COVID-19 pandemic has permanently altered the lives of countless people. Not only that, but it has affected people unequally -- we have seen people of color dying at higher rates than white counterparts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/health-equity/race-…). A recent survey by USC researchers supports
