The results of a study led by Northern Arizona University and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, suggest the immune systems of people infected with COVID-19 may rely on antibodies created during infections from earlier coronaviruses to help fight the disease.
COVID-19 isn’t humanity’s first encounter with a coronavirus, so named because of the corona, or crown-like, protein spikes… Read more
Scientists at two Northern Arizona University research centers—the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute (PMI) and the Center for Health Equity Research (CHER)—recently received grants totaling $175,000 from the Flinn Foundation in support of projects directed at responding to the COVID-19 threat.
Researchers in PMI are internationally recognized for their expertise in the genomic… Read more
C. Todd French, assistant professor of biology and leader of Northern Arizona University’s new COVID-19 Testing Service Center (CTSC), is working with scientists at Vault Pharma, an emerging biotechnology company, to test candidate vaccines against the novel coronavirus. Through a multi-institutional public-private partnership linking the company with UCLA, NAU and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, French is part… Read more
With the ongoing challenges associated with large-scale testing for COVID-19—including test kit shortages, stringent testing criteria and the inherent limitations of current tracking systems on mildly symptomatic and asymptomatic populations, scientists are looking for alternate methods to boost testing in order to predict the spread of the disease. Crystal Hepp, an assistant professor in NAU’s School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber… Read more
Disease modeling across four counties—Coconino, Navajo, Apache and Mohave—is designed to help inform public health experts and elected officials about how and when to remove physical distancing restrictions and re-open businesses and public spaces.
Joe Mihaljevic, mathematical epidemiologist and assistant professor in Northern Arizona University’s School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS), is leading a new project… Read more
As the demand for transportation fuels has plummeted at an unprecedented rate in the last month due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Northern Arizona University scientist says the dramatic decrease in local air pollution and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels above cities is significant, measurable and could be historic, depending on how long commuters and other drivers stay… Read more