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From a pandemic, scientific insights poised to impact more than just COVID-19
emulsions of oil and water separated by a layer of nanoparticles.

Bijels, or bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels, are structured emulsions of oil and water that are kept separated by a layer of nanoparticles. Penn Engineering researchers will develop a way of using them to manufacture mRNA-based therapeutics. (Image: Penn Engineering Today)

From a pandemic, scientific insights poised to impact more than just COVID-19

Pivoting to study SARS-CoV-2, many scientists on campus have launched new research projects that address the challenges of the pandemic but also prepare us to confront future challenges.

Katherine Unger Baillie

America’s flu-shot problem is also its next COVID-shot problem
The Atlantic

America’s flu-shot problem is also its next COVID-shot problem

Alison Buttenheim of the School of Nursing said that, if the American public is asked to be vaccinated against COVID-19 again in the future, the turnout would likely not exceed that of the typical annual flu vaccine. “I’m guessing that flu-vaccine coverage is going to be a ceiling,” she said. “I just don’t think we’ll have 70 percent of U.S. adults saying, ‘Oh, an annual COVID shot? Sure.’”

New COVID-19 roadmap: Four takeaways
A group of older people at a restaurant clinking half-full wine glasses, with their masks pulled down around their chins to reveal a smile. Food is on the table.

New COVID-19 roadmap: Four takeaways

A report spearheaded by PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel, with input from other Penn experts, lays out a dozen priorities for the federal government to tackle in the next 12 months. The aim: to help guide the U.S. to the pandemic’s “next normal.”

Michele W. Berger

Health experts warn omicron subvariant could become dominant strain in U.S.
KYW Newsradio (Philadelphia)

Health experts warn omicron subvariant could become dominant strain in U.S.

John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine said the U.S. should be keeping an eye on BA.2, the subvariant of COVID-19 behind a surge in parts of Europe and Asia. “It’s unlikely that we need national reintroduction of mitigation measures, but we should have local awareness of what’s happening in our communities and how to actually reintroduce masks or other measures,” he said.

The pandemic’s psychological scars
swirly painting of faces and heads

(Homepage image) “What we needed to do for our physical health—quarantining, staying away from other people and social situations—even when that kind of avoidance is the right thing to do, it makes people more anxious,” says Elizabeth Turk-Karan of the Center for the Study and Treatment of Anxiety. What remains to be seen is how these emotions and many others will play out as the pandemic recedes.

The pandemic’s psychological scars

It’s been a long and uncertain road, with some groups shouldering a disproportionately greater burden of mental anguish from COVID-19. Yet now there’s a glimmer of hope. Has the page finally turned?

Michele W. Berger

The coronavirus’s next move
The Atlantic

The coronavirus’s next move

John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine said the COVID-19 vaccines should continue to help combat new variants. “Statistically speaking, I don’t think it’s possible to escape T-cell immunity,” he said.

How did this many deaths become normal?
The Atlantic

How did this many deaths become normal?

Courtney Boen of the School of Arts & Sciences said the Global North’s insistence on moving on from the pandemic “shifts the burden to the very groups experiencing mass deaths to protect themselves” and absolves world leaders of responsibility. “It’s a lot easier to say that we have to learn to live with COVID if you’re not personally experiencing the ongoing loss of your family members,” she said.

What the ‘new normal’ of living with COVID might look like
ABC News

What the ‘new normal’ of living with COVID might look like

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel and other public health officials issued recommendations for how the U.S. should manage the pandemic going forward. "We needed to have a new strategic plan for the country," Emanuel said. "Having an outside group, which is bipartisan, has a certain advantage."

The future of mRNA vaccines
U.S. News & World Report

The future of mRNA vaccines

Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about future uses for the mRNA technology used to create the COVID-19 vaccines. Weissman and others are currently working on a potential universal flu vaccine.