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.
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.
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.
Researchers at U.Va. Health have recently uncovered a systemic barrier in the South impacting the access to a critical HIV treatment and prevention drug called PrEP. A frustrating insurance requirement known as prior authorization has been largely deemed the culprit, researchers reveal.
University researchers discovered that exercise prior to the development of macular degeneration caused a decrease in blood vessel overgrowth in laboratory mice. This correlates to macular degeneration in humans, meaning exercise could help prevent future vision loss.
The team hopes this website will help scientists, as well as the broader research community, find and use accurate information about the virus.
The trial is expected to test whether or not fluvoxamine can prevent cytokine storms in patients with COVID-19, which could help keep the immune system in check and help fight the virus without destroying organs.
No matter the timelines or outcomes of COVID-19 research, scientists say the important thing to take home is that this is not going to be the last pandemic, and we will need to apply current research to other ones in the future.
With the lottery system in place and more shipments from the federal government to come, around 650 Virginians hospitalized with COVID-19 will be able to take remdesivir.
The study was conducted among COVID-19 patients hospitalized in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and found a higher rate of death among patients who took hydroxychloroquine, either alone or in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin.
Preliminary results indicate that patients who took remdesivir recovered 31 percent faster than those who took the placebo, shortening the median recovery time from 15 days to 11 days.
The trial began in February at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and now consists of more than 60 institutions and 700 patients internationally.
The grant will allow researchers to use computational and engineering methods to answer fundamental questions about epidemics and pandemics in real time.
Researchers aimed to better understand the feasibility of achieving herd immunity yet found evidence that shows that immunity itself cannot be reached through antibody production alone.
“About 65 percent of students that are graduating from U.Va. have done some significant research,” Cullaty said. “This [number] primarily comes through coursework,” he said.
President Sullivan joins close to 200 university presidents in a renewed effort to stop Congress from cutting education funding, funding which is critical to closing the “innovation gap” between the U.S. and foreign nations.
