This fall, the University Health System received over 38,000 N95 masks from the National Strategic Stockpile — a national holding of critical medical supplies managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. However, the 38,000 masks often had unusable straps that broke when stretched.
Two researchers in the School of Medicine recently discovered a convenient and efficient method to red-shift fluorescent protein-based biosensors using the amino acid 3-aminotyrosine.
Given the prevalence of disability and chronic illness in the United States, the coronavirus pandemic has magnified the inequalities in accessibility that persist in our society.
The research done in the Department of Public Health Sciences, and that of other public health departments, is important in providing analyses and guidance to those making policy decisions. The department’s teaching role has mobilized to help students get a better understanding of public health as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pollsters have identified where the 2016 election polls went short, including the underweighting of location and education, and are implementing changes to hopefully deliver more accurate polls this year.
Science literacy is the ability to gather information, from sources like Facebook or the news, do homework on that information and then decide to agree or disagree.
The University has managed an increasing demand for testing supplies by utilizing multiple forms of testing that require different materials — however, shortages at U.Va. Health still remain according to physicians in the U.Va. Health System.
Having to conduct programming virtually has actually opened up many opportunities for students and allowed the U.Va. Career Center to add new programs, with the number of students visiting the career center doubling over the summer.
Despite COVID-19 protocols for the daily use of disposable masks, to-go containers and cleaning supplies, the University is producing half as much trash as in the fall of 2019.
According to University physicians, there are risks associated with using dexamethasone to treat mild COVID-19 cases and that it should mainly be reserved for those with severe cases as the steroid can cause the immune system to overwork, which can be fatal.
Not only could colder weather perpetuate the virus by increasing indoor congregation and naturally weakening the immune system, but identical viral symptoms seen in COVID-19 and influenza may cause confusion in diagnoses.
Reaching successful infection control is heavily dependent on the compliance of students with procedures. These procedures include informing staff about contact, promptly testing for the virus and agreeing to quarantine or isolate if requested.
In the midst of a semester altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, students may find their mental health changing due to a combination of school and pandemic-related stressors.
As racial minorites are underrepresented in the STEM field, University doctors have been hard at work on projects to fight underlying systemic barriers that contribute to this lack of diversity.
With the human genome being over 6.4 billion base pairs, quantum computing may prove to be an efficient way to process genetic data. Dr. Stephan Bekiranov — a computational biologist at U.Va. — has developed an algorithm that utilizes a quantum computer in order to study genetic diseases. This algorithm was designed to introduce efficiencies in the computations by reducing the number of calculations performed in an operation.
Last year, University personnel established the high-performance computing system Virginia Assuring Controls Compliance of Research Data to aid institutions across the Commonwealth with their research efforts. The grant, funded by the National Science Foundation, was recently expanded to ACCORD-COVID, which serves institutions around the nation.
The goal of the wastewater program is to detect early and asymptomatic coronavirus cases, as research has shown that the genetic material of SARS-CoV-2 is shed in the stool of infected individuals and can be detected prior to the appearance of clinical symptoms.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced convalescent plasma as an emergency-use authorization treatment for COVID-19, but since May 5 of this year, trials on this method of treatment have already been conducted at the University.
The consolidated funds of $178,000 have been donated to the U.Va. Children’s Hospital transplant program, serving to facilitate a multidisciplinary care approach in addition to mitigating costs of heart, kidney and liver transplants for pediatric patients’ families.
In early July, a team of U. Va. researchers published their findings regarding the discovery of a gene that promotes cancer growth. Their discovery of this gene, advillin (AVIL), is a promising breakthrough in the fight against glioblastoma, one of the most malicious types of cancer.
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