The first U.S. patients have been dosed in a clinical trial testing whether four experimental messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine candidates can prevent infection with the virus that causes 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced the trial’s start, with NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the University of Maryland as the first centers to enroll patients in the United States. Take a closer look.

The Mount Sinai Health System’s new Institute for Health Equity Research is quickly acting on its mandate to rigorously study disparities in health issues, including COVID-19, with the intention of translating those discoveries into initiatives and policies that benefit communities in New York and the nation. Take a closer look.

URMC researchers are joining a pair of new national clinical trials this week that will test whether hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), an FDA-approved anti-malarial drug, can keep COVID-19 patients alive and out of the hospital. While HCQ has been widely touted as a potential treatment for COVID-19, results from coronavirus research studies reported thus far have been contradictory and inconclusive. Take a closer look.

Francis Wilson survived a severe case of the coronavirus after 10 days on a ventilator, but the 29-year-old’s recovery has been slow. Doctors are still beginning to understand the long-term effects of the virus. The Washington Post interviewed SUNY Downstate Emergency Medicine Physician and Research Dr. Lorenzo Paladino interviewed on what it is like to recover from COVID-19. Take a closer look.

Could the dominant antibodies found in milk produced by women who have recovered from COVID-19 serve as a potent treatment for individuals-both adults and children-who now have the disease? Rebecca L. Powell, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases), at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is pursuing research to answer that question. An HIV researcher, Dr. Powell has also studied human breast milk extensively for its significant role in human health. Take a closer look.

A team of researchers in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University are investigating the use of two inhibitor drugs in the treatment of COVID-19. The collaborative work will be supported by a $450,000 grant, effective June 1, from the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation. Take a closer look.

Critical care physicians, infectious disease specialists and pulmonologists from Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian have published a clinical practice guide for managing severe COVID-19 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Clinical practice guides are provided by medical journals and associations to help physicians worldwide reach the best health care decisions for patients with complicated illnesses. Take a closer look.

The first patients were treated as part of a clinical trial testing whether an antibody therapy can safely reduce 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) severity. The experimental treatment consists of identical copies of an antibody, a blood protein related to those that occur naturally as part of the human immune system, researchers say. Take a closer look.

In a few short months, an interdisciplinary team of University at Buffalo researchers has reoriented its focus from academic pursuits in order to model the local transmission of COVID-19 cases. Now, with the first wave of cases subsiding, they are turning their attention to modeling the effects of reopening the local economy. Take a closer look.

An Albany Med pulmonary and critical care physician who has been caring for COVID-19 patients during the pandemic, Ariel Jaitovich, M.D., is partnering with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study why some patients experience COVID-19 more severely than others. The researchers will use mass spectrometry, an analytical tool that measures the molecular mass of biomolecules, to examine blood samples from two groups of patients who had been hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Albany Med: those who tested positive for COVID-19 and a control group who tested negative for the virus. Take a closer look.

Lowering testosterone could lessen the severity of COVID-19 disease by preventing the new coronavirus from entering lung cells, according to a new study from researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Based on these findings, a clinical trial to test the effect of reducing testosterone in COVID-19 patients is set to begin at three Veterans Affairs hospitals in New York City, Los Angeles, and the Seattle region. Take a closer look.

For the past several weeks, Albert Kwon, M.D., assistant professor of anesthesiology, has taken a step back from his critical role as an anesthesiologist at Westchester Medical Center to work on a critically important research project with equally lifesaving prospects. As the acute need for ventilators amid the COVID-19 health crisis emerged and with the potential looming for a shortfall of thousands of units, a group of MIT engineers, teaming with doctors with clinical experience in treating respiratory conditions, looked to a ten-year-old design for an inexpensive alternative for ventilation as the possible solution. Take a closer look.

In response to the pandemic, many Einstein scientists have pivoted from their ongoing research to tackle the novel coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease it causes. Here we describe three such projects that are now underway. Take a closer look.

As the number of deaths in the United States from COVID-19 surpasses 100,000, the huge toll of the pandemic on individuals and the economy is demonstrated daily in news outlets across the country. For nurses, physicians, and others caring for the sick, the emotional and physical toll of pandemic-related stress may be less visible but is no less insidious, says Allison Norful, PhD, a research scientist in Columbia University School of Nursing who studies burnout among nurses and other health care providers. Take a closer look.

Tim Murphy, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo and director of the UB Community Health Equity Research Institute, was invited to testify Monday at the state Legislature’s Joint Virtual Public Hearing Exploring Solutions to the Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on Minority Communities. Take a closer look.

A new study published recently in ScienceDirect by researchers from SUNY Upstate Medical University and Syracuse University and shows that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are more likely to die from COVID-19 than those without IDD. According to the researchers, the disparity is likely related to a higher prevalence of comorbid diseases among those with IDD, and/or a higher percentage of people with IDD are living in congregate residential settings. Take a closer look.

While most children infected with the novel coronavirus have mild symptoms, a subset requires hospitalization and a small number require intensive care. A new report from pediatric anesthesiologists, infectious disease specialists and pediatricians at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, describes the clinical characteristics and outcomes of children hospitalized with COVID-19, during the early days of the pandemic. Take a closer look.

While COVID-19 grabs the headlines, there’s another insidious health risk New Yorkers should be aware of this summer: Lyme disease. Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the U.S., and the Northeast region, which has the highest cases of Lyme, is in the “bullseye” for disease-carrying ticks. Take a closer look.

Upstate Medical University’s Citizen Science Tick Testing Program will open June 1 to begin receiving ticks to see if they are carrying Lyme and other diseases. The tick testing program, headed by Upstate Professor Saravanan Thangamani, PhD, has received 4,051 tick samples since it began last July. Thangamani, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Upstate and director of the SUNY Center for Environmental Health and Medicine, is studying the geographic expansion of ticks and tick-borne disease in New York. Take a closer look.

A new study shows that when specific human brain cells are transplanted into animal models of multiple sclerosis and other white matter diseases, the cells repair damage and restore function.  The study provides one of the final pieces of scientific evidence necessary to advance this treatment strategy to clinical trials. Take a closer look.

Patients who need to regrow bone after surgery or injury could someday find help from a startup born and nurtured in the SUNY system. Zetagen Therapeutics, based in Syracuse, has developed a medical device that quickly stimulates the growth of high-quality bone. The invention emerged from research conducted at SUNY Upstate Medical University by Zetagen’s co-founders, Bryan Margulies, PhD, and Nikhil Thakur, MD, while both were assistant professors there. Margulies now serves as Zetagen’s chief scientific officer. Take a closer look.

Dr. Jim Hu, the Ronald P. Lynch Professor of Urologic Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded more than $7 million in funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) for two studies on outcomes of prostate cancer biopsy and treatment. He has also been awarded $2.5 million from the National Cancer Institute to study prostate biopsy. In total, he will receive close to $10 million in federal funding for comparative effectiveness research into better ways to diagnose and treat prostate cancer. Take a closer look.

Researchers at Albany Medical College have received a $2.5 million five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to study chronic hepatitis B. “Chronic hepatitis B results from an ineffective immune response that can’t control the virus,” said Michael Robek, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbial Disease at Albany Medical College, who is leading the study. “Current therapies can help manage the infection, but they rarely cure it.” Take a closer look.

SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University announced that Brooklyn resident David J. Christini, Ph.D., has been appointed Senior Vice President of Research at Brooklyn’s only academic medical center. Over the last 20 years, Dr. Christini has served as Vice Dean at Weill Cornell Graduate School, as Assistant Dean of Scientific Computing at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM), as Vice Chair of Basic Research in the WCM Department of Medicine, and as Director of Basic Cardiovascular Research at WCM. Take a closer look.

Kristin Myers, MPH, Senior Vice President for Technology at the Mount Sinai Health System, will become Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer, and Dean for Information Technology. Ms. Myers will provide visionary leadership and steer IT transformation efforts to align and support Health System strategy. Take a closer look.

Two New York Tech experts appear in the East Coast Conference’s new Timeout Talks, a virtual series that launched on May 15, 2020, and features ECC Commissioner Bob Dranoff’s interviews with student-athletes, coaches, athletic staff, alumni, and others affiliated with ECC member institutions: Brian Harper, M.D., M.P.H., New York Tech’s chief medical officer and NYITCOM associate professor, provides information about the COVID-19 virus and also shares tips on how to stay healthy during the pandemic. Take a closer look.