#ACC Higher Education Institutional Efforts to Combat #COVID_19

Good evening, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) sports fans.  

We’re going to step out of sports tonight and venture into the area of ACC academics and research.  This is genuinely where the ACC shines.  

ACC institutions are doing some really important work, including research, testing, and manufacturing, to help our country combat the most immediate public health emergency, COVID-19, in generations.  I would say that most if not all of the ACC schools are involved in some manner with COVID-19 testing – which is really important if you want to fight this pandemic.  The general trend – best practice, if you will, is that you combat COVID-19 with a combination of social distancing, increased testing (so that you can get to the point that asymptomatic people are tested), and contact tracing (so you know who has the virus). 

Here are some really good examples we want to spotlight below:

• Louisville – University of Louisville researchers developed a technology that might block the novel coronavirus from infecting human cells. “Early tests show that this aptamer may stop viruses, including novel coronavirus, from “hijacking” nucleolin to replicate inside the body.”  Louisville is seeking fast-track Food and Drug Administration development approval of this technology so that patients seriously impacted by COVID-19 can be treated right away.  Louisville operates one of 12 biocontainment laboratories in the country – and its university researchers helped develop the COVID-19 testing approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Additionally, University of Louisville researchers are developing a robot, which will disinfect areas with COVID-19 risk. 
• Pittsburgh – University of Pittsburgh researchers have developed a COVID-19 vaccine, which showed major promise in peer-reviewed research.  University of Pittsburgh researchers tested the potential drug on mice – and “the vaccine, delivered through a fingertip-sized patch, produces antibodies specific to COVID-19 at quantities thought to be sufficient for neutralizing the virus.” 
• Virginia – University of Virginia Biocomplexity Institute Researchers developed a COVID-19 projection model for the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Governor Ralph Northam refers to this model quite often in his COVID-19 briefings – and uses the information to guide public health decisions (the model is here and it’s very informing).  Virginia researchers also found that exercise may “reduce the risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome, a major cause of death in patients with the COVID-19 virus.” 
• Duke – Duke researchers will lead a $50 million study to ascertain the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a preventive drug for the novel coronavirus.  Specifically, the funding “to understand the impact of COVID-19 on their health and to evaluate whether hydroxychloroquine can prevent COVID-19 infections in health care workers at high risk of contracting the coronavirus.”  Duke is a leader on COVID-19 research (please watch this video).  Duke also has a major volunteer registry – people volunteering for scientific studies – including COVID-19 research.  Duke researchers also found that dogs can be infected with COVID-19.  Additionally, Duke has set up a COVID-19 engineering response team – and you should see the work they are doing.  
• University of North Carolina (UNC) – UNC researchers are playing a vital role in developing COVID-19 treatments on a couple of fronts.  First, researchers are testing a drop called EIDD-2801, which could change the way doctors treat COVID-19.  North Carolina researchers finished testing the drug in mice – and will soon move testing to human clinical trials (they found that the drug helps reduce lung damage).  Second, Dr. Anthony Fauci gave a huge shout out to the makers of remdesivir – a drug developed through an academic-corporate partnership between Gilead Sciences and the Baric Lab at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.  The drug helps those to recover from COVID-19; it shortens the recovery time from 15 to 11 days.
• Virginia Tech – Virginia Tech researchers have secured federal and state approval to develop new COVID-19 tests, which will combat backlogs and shortages.  This is vital work because certain parts of Southwest Virginia are medically underserved (vastly underserved).  Virginia Tech researchers have also found that warm weather does not (emphasis mine) prevent the spread of COVID-19.  Virginia Tech is also asking the community to help print 3D-print face shields.  
• Georgia Tech –  Like its ACC institutional piers, Georgia Tech is doing a lot to fight COVID-19.  For example, Georgia Tech is teaming up with some partners to fast track – and really rapid test COVID-19.  Georgia Tech is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention response team “to conduct analytics on population-level behaviors and vetting emerging technologies and data to ensure that response team leadership has actionable information at their fingertips in real time.”  You can find that and more – in a very extensive list of actions that Georgia Tech is working regarding COVD-19.  Georgia Tech is working on face shields, ventilators, modeling the activity of the virus, contact tracing (e.g. smartphone software that would help notify people who might be at risk of contracting COVID-19). 
• Miami – The University of Miami has an impressive number of active COVID-19 research projects.  If I had time, I probably could address all 24 of these research projects in a separate blog post – and maybe I will get that time lol.  The University of Miami, along with Georgia Tech, are leading COVID-19 research institutions in the Southeastern United States.  Miami researchers are also studying COVID-19 and the use of cannabis.  
• Clemson – Clemson researchers are studying COVID-19 impacts on exposure to tick-borne illnesses.  Researchers are basically checking to see if one spends more time outside due to COVID-19 restrictions, are they then catching tick-borne illnesses – and passing that on to family, friends, pets, etc.  Under the banner of epidemiology, “Prisma Health, Clemson and USC are working to map neighborhood-level tracking for the outbreak. [They] are also gearing up to develop innovative solutions that address health care system needs such as sterilization processes for vital equipment like N95 masks and 3D printing of personal protective equipment.”  Clemson is also offering advice on food safety as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and responding to an urgent call for testing.  I’m glad, too, that someone is talking about how to relieve stress, too, as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.  
• North Carolina State University (NCSU) – Researchers at the North Carolina State University College of Natural Resources found that the destruction of wildlife habitats, which face increasing pressure from human activity, lead to the emergency of “new animal-to-human transmitted diseases like COVID-19.”  NCSU engineers are also using 3D Printers to make face shields for the healthcare workers at WakeMed.  Similar to Clemson, food safety during this COVID-19 epidemic was also discussed.  NCSU Applied Ecology professors also hosted a discussion on how COVID-19 is transmitted.  Our Wolfpack friends have also donated filtration material to the soldiers at Fort Bragg!  How awesome!! 
• Florida State University (FSU) – FSU psychology researchers are studying how children are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.  It sounds like children are coping well, which is good news for us all.  In addition, an FSU Interior Architecture and Design Instructor is redesigning a local homeless shelter in response to the COVID-19 epidemic (which will help the shelter comply with social distancing guidelines).     
• Boston College – Boston College tells us that a young professor wants to ease the anxiety of the LatinX community who contracts the COVID-19 virus.  Three Boston College economists (and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor) found that a “reserve system” could help resolve the shortage of ventilators needed to combat COVID-19.  Specifically, “The market design approach, which the economists call a “reserve system,” can better allocate equipment by creating multiple categories of need based on the priorities set by medical and governmental authorities.”  The Director of the Boston College Center for Retirement research reports that the Social Security Trust Fund could be depleted much sooner than many expected due to high unemployment levels (e.g. fewer people are paying social security payroll taxes)
• Wake Forest –  Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers are leading a study on the outbreak of COVID-19 in North Carolina.  The goal of the study is to learn more about the presence of the virus in North Carolina – and predict the future spread.  Wake Forest researchers are also performing a study to “define the [COVID-19] epidemic on a regional basis to both track the disease in real-time and answer critical secondary research questions” according to Dr. John Sanders, principal investigator of the study and chief of infectious diseases at Wake Forest Baptist.
• Syracuse –  Syracuse University professor “discusses the ‘long-standing dysfunction of our information ecosystem’ and the risks it may pose to public health.”  She discusses the information ecosystem, like the difference between misinformation and disinformation – and polluted information as it pertains to COVID-19.  With millions of people now teleworking, Syracuse Information School professors also address the importance of cloud computing in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic. 

Thank you to @TalkinACCSports, @NCSU_99_17_24, @FreeAlvaroTor, and @MikeySurf for dropping some information to me. 

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