Coronavirus Research

Adult wearing mask adjusts the mask of a young child

A COVID vaccine for kids

Jeff Gerber, who is heading the clinical trial of the Moderna vaccine in kids under 12 at CHOP, speaks with Penn Today about the trial and why getting children vaccinated is so essential.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・

year in review

A unique but exemplary academic year: 2020-21 in review

A challenging yet successful year—Penn’s exceptional community of dedicated students, faculty, and staff overcame the world’s most significant obstacles to flourish, from outreach locally through volunteerism, to helping the world globally with mRNA technology. The 2021 academic year highlighted the best of Penn.

Tina Rodia ・



In the News


Scientific American

There are few good COVID antivirals, but that could be changing

Sara Cherry of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the arduous process of developing antiviral drugs to treat COVID-19. “Most of the compounds that work in cells ultimately fail in animal studies for lots of reasons,” she said. Of the compounds that remain, just a few make it to the animal testing stage.

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6ABC.com

Study finds that higher death rates for Black COVID patients tied to hospital quality

David Asch of the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School spoke about his research on racial disparities in health outcomes for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. "Perhaps the main reason that Black patients tend to have worse outcomes than white patients is because they go to hospitals that provide worse care for all," he said. "I think it's a story of racial residential segregation. Most people go to hospitals near where they live. And we fund hospitals very much by local resources."

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The Wall Street Journal

Are latent viruses causing long COVID-19 symptoms? Patient groups push for testing

Benjamin Abramoff of the Perelman School of Medicine said that the Post-COVID Assessment and Recovery Clinic doesn’t test patients for viral reactivation. “Given that these are seen in other disease processes, we do not think this is likely the driver of long-term symptoms,” he said.

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WHYY (Philadelphia)

Racial differences in COVID mortality rates linked to unequal hospital quality, Penn study shows

David Asch and Rachel Werner of the Leonard Davis Institute co-authored research that found disparities between COVID-19 outcomes based on which hospital a patient was admitted to. “Patients tend to go to hospitals that are near them, and therefore Black patients are more likely to go to hospitals that are underresourced,” said Asch. “It’s a story of inequity, it’s a story of structural racism that has its origins centuries in the past.”

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Forbes

New drug may bypass SARS-CoV-2 blockade of innate immune response

Researchers led by Sara Cherry of the Perelman School of Medicine have identified a drug that may prevent and treat COVID-19 by activating the body’s immune response.

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6ABC.com

UPenn working on rapid COVID test that delivers results within minutes

César de la Fuente of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the rapid COVID-19 diagnostic test he and his team are developing. "This particular one is made out of cardboard, so it's recyclable and low cost," he said.

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