Coronavirus Research

a gloved hand places a pipet tip over a plastic antibody test with a dot of blood, out of focus in the background a person puts a bandage on their finger

As society looks for a ‘new normal,’ is antibody testing a way forward?

Penn experts discuss the limitations of commercial antibody tests, how scientists are assessing the true scale of COVID-19 infections, and what studies are being done to see who might now be immune to the novel coronavirus.

Thousands fighting coronavirus take antimalaria drugs amid uncertainty they help

Benjamin Abella of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about a study he’s leading to test the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine. “Health care workers are under a lot of stress throughout this whole pandemic, and anything we can do to help lower their risk, because their exposure is pretty much continuous, they’re greatly interested in,” he said.

Older person’s torso closeup with hands holding onto a walker

Among North Philadelphia’s Latino elders during COVID-19

School of Nursing faculty member and LDI Senior Fellow Adriana Perez conducts research in two of the Philadelphia area’s largest Latino communities and provides insights into how COVID-19 is impacting each.

Graphs indicating highs and lows superimposed over a microscopic image of the coronavirus

Making sense of coronavirus statistics

Wharton professor Adi Wyner digs into the statistics about the COVID-19 outbreak and offers insights into what the numbers mean.

Penn Medicine launches COVID-19 convalescent plasma study

A two-part research initiative using plasma from people who’ve recovered from the virus will investigate how the therapy works for moderately and severely ill patients.

Hundreds receive plasma from recovered coronavirus patients in national study

Holly Fernandez Lynch of the Perelman School of Medicine said it’s worth studying the results of experimental therapies for treating COVID-19. “If we keep acting like we can’t study the interventions, then we will be in the same position next time and still not know how to effectively treat people,” she said.

Antibody test, seen as key to reopening country, does not yet deliver

Scott Hensley of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the need for coronavirus antibody tests. “As many scientific challenges as there are right now,” he said, “there’s an equally large engineering challenge and scalability challenge to get these on the market.”

Penn labs get creative to stay productive, connected

In the face of a pandemic that has shuttered most physical laboratories across campus, researchers have shifted gears, maintaining work and social ties through grant- and manuscript-writing, virtual journal clubs, online coffee breaks, and more.

closeup of prescription pills on a surface beside a stethoscope and blood pressure gauge

Commonly used blood pressure meds may affect outcomes on COVID-19

Penn Medicine launches an international trial to study whether the medications are beneficial or harmful in the treatment of hospitalized patients.

closeup of doctor’s hands intubating a patient

Measuring the risk among clinicians who intubate patients with COVID-19

Penn launches a national component of global registry to track exposures and outcomes among providers who perform airway management procedures.

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