AL scientists play role in COVID-19

Researchers and scientists across Alabama, and with affiliations with its universities, are playing a major role in development of coronavirus treatments, testing and response across America. Auburn University, University of Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and University of Alabama in Huntsville all are contributing to the development of virus treatments and community research. Richard Cullum, an AU doctoral candidate in chemical engineering, works for Assurance Scientific Labs in Birmingham as a member of the R&D team that created a test for COVID-19 in less than two weeks. The Huntsville-based Diatherix Eurofins diagnostics lab developed a panel to help identify the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Dr. Richard Whitley, a professor at UAB, is the primary researcher behind the investigational drug remdesivir used to treat COVID-19. Remdesivir was developed through research at UAB’s Antiviral Drug Discovery and Development Center. Dr. Jerome Baudry, a biology professor at the UAH, is part of an effort led by Oak Ridge (Tenn.) National Laboratory that uses supercomputers to examine existing compounds that could be used to treat COVID-19. Dr. Philip Gable, associate professor of psychology at UA, was awarded a federal grant to study how emotions influence people’s response to the spread of the novel coronavirus. The project is part of the National Science Foundation’s Rapid Response Research funding program to understand the spread of COVID-19, its transmission and prevention. “... (T)here is a tremendous amount of uncertainty in day-to-day life around the globe,” Gable said. “We are interested in the role uncertainty plays in how people feel and behave … (and) to see how non-conscious emotions toward avoiding the virus influence health behaviors.” A group of Auburn engineers developed a way to quickly convert CPAP machines into ventilators to treat COVID-19. (Source: AL.com 04/04/20) https://www.al.com/news/2020/04/alabama-researchers-scientists-play-important-role-in-national-covid-19-response.html