Coronavirus Research

Do vaccine lotteries work?

Wharton’s Katy Milkman shares the lessons learned from last year’s Philly Vax Sweepstakes, a Penn-funded project designed to evaluate ways of increasing COVID-19 vaccinations in the city.

Five women who should have won a Nobel Prize

Katalin Karikó of the Perelman School of Medicine is lauded for her work with Perelman’s Drew Weissman pioneering the use of synthetic messenger RNA to fight diseases, which served as the basis for two widely used COVID-19 vaccines.

Pfizer and Moderna seek authorization of omicron booster for kids ages 5-11

Paul Offit of the Perelman School of Medicine says that uncertain benefits for children and lack of historical data on bivalent vaccines might not justify pediatric authorizations for omicron boosters.

COVID boosters take aim just at omicron. This Penn lab is going after coronaviruses the world hasn’t seen yet

In Drew Weissman’s lab at the Perelman School of Medicine, researchers like Mohamad-Gabriel Alameh, Benjamin Davis, and Garima Dwivedi are developing pan-coronavirus vaccines to guard against future variants.

mRNA pioneers refocus on therapeutics

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine are noted for their key 2005 advances with synthetic mRNA.

Penn spinout Capstan Therapeutics launches with $165M and an all-star lineup of founders

Capstan Therapeutics, a Penn spinout whose founders include Carl June, Bruce Levine, and Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine, has launched with $165 million raised to develop a new type of CAR therapy that incorporates mRNA.

Understanding the expanded role of clinical ethicists

COVID-19 brought troubling ethical issues to clinical care, creating significant distress for clinicians, patients, and families. Behind the scenes, clinical ethicists managed those issues to support frontline workers.

New private venture tackles the riddle of Long Covid—and aims to test treatments quickly

E. John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine says that the Long Covid Research Initiative’s greater risk tolerance and more rapid investment pivoting could enable it to outpace the National Institutes of Health.

A gloved hand holds a petri dish filled with green colored tablets. Plants in containers are shown in the background

Chewing to curb COVID

Penn Medicine will conduct a new clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a chewing gum designed by School of Dental Medicine researchers to trap SARS-CoV-2 in the saliva.

Should you get a new COVID booster? If so, when?

John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine advises people who recently received COVID boosters to wait for their antibodies to wane before receiving an updated one.

Filters