Coronavirus Research

Carl June of the Perelman School of Medicine is leading a study investigating the effects of cyclosporine on calming the immune systems of COVID-19 patients to prevent cytokine storms.

Susan R. Weiss of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about coronavirology and the uptick in interest in the field.

Nilam Mangalmurti of the Perelman School of Medicine said the way COVID-19 attacks blood vessels in the lungs, causing inflammation throughout the body and fueling additional respiratory problems, is “a vicious cycle.”

The pharmaceutical company Novartis has agreed to manufacture a gene-based coronavirus vaccine that Penn helped develop.

Kent Smetters of the Wharton School spoke about the School’s modeling of state reopenings and coronavirus risk. “Everyone wants us to talk about policy, but in fact personal behavior still matters a lot here,” he said.

Cynthia Otto of the School of Veterinary Medicine spoke about efforts to train dogs to sniff out COVID-19. “We need to first confirm that there is an odor associated with the virus and that we can detect it in the samples,” she said.

Cynthia Otto of the School of Veterinary Medicine spoke about the Working Dog Center’s efforts to train dogs to detect COVID-19 in humans. “Basically, we are looking at urine samples. We are hoping to look at saliva and breath samples as well,” she said. “We are going to tell basically if there is an odor excreted in these samples.”

Christina Bax of the Perelman School of Medicine co-authored a study that found human speech can emit small respiratory droplets that can linger in the air for more than eight minutes, potentially contributing to the spread of the coronavirus.