About the center
Drs. Gene Oltz, Ann Scheck McAlearney, Ashish Panchal, and Linda Saif will serve as multi-principal investigators for the Center to STOP-COVID, a new Serological Sciences Center of Excellence supported by a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Cancer Institute in the National Institutes of Health. The effort will study the long-term effect of COVID-19 on first responders, health care workers and the general population.
Contact information
For more details about the center, email Center to STOP-COVID Research Manager Alice Gaughan at alice.gaughan@osumc.edu.
Announcements
Center to STOP-COVID experts share information about antibodies
In an effort to share information regarding common questions surrounding COVID-19, experts with the Center to STOP-COVID have written a blog entry titled "What do antibodies do to protect against COVID-19?" Posted in collaboration with The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Marketing and Strategic Communications, the entry answers a number of common queries and links to relevant resources for more information. Additional efforts are underway to augment Ohio State's COVID-19 information resources with the knowledge of those at the Center to STOP-COVID.
There are a variety of additional sources of COVID-19 information available; some of them are listed below.
- The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Blog
- The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center COVID FAQ
- The Ohio State University Infectious Diseases Institute
- Franklin County Public Health Vaccine FAQs
Recent News
Study: COVID efficient at spreading cell to cell
A team that includes multiple researchers associated with the Center to STOP-COVID and The Ohio State University has published a new article titled "SARS-CoV-2 spreads through cell-to-cell transmission," which reveals that the virus behind the pandemic is able to efficiently spread directly from one cell to another, rather than via freely floating viral particles. Their research appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is also featured in an article by Ohio State News, in which paper co-author and Center to STOP-COVID member Shan-Lu Liu is extensively quoted.
Distribution underway of special COVID-19 vaccine for zoo animals
Around 80 zoos across the U.S. have requested doses of the vaccine, called Zoetis. Coronavirus vaccines for animals were first developed in the 1950s, but each is specific to a specific coronavirus. Dr. Linda Saif is quoted.
Pandemic isn't over: Ohio State researchers study effect on first responders
“The big focus about first responders for us is that they’re the ones on the front lines,” said Ashish Panchal, MD, PhD, who was quoted in multiple news sources across the state while discussing the STOP COVID study.
Ohio State to study COVID-19 in first responders with $10 million grant
“Stopping the spread of COVID-19 will require research that cross-cuts basic, translational and applied sciences,” said Dr. Gene Oltz, chair of the Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and lead co-principal investigator for the study, in a news release from Ohio State.
NIH to launch the Serological Sciences Network for COVID-19
The National Institutes of Health announced: "The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has launched the Serological Sciences Network for COVID-19 (SeroNet), an initiative aimed at quickly increasing the nation’s antibody testing capacity and engaging the U.S. research community to understand the immune response to COVID-19. NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health." Dr. Ann Scheck McAlearney is pictured. Dr. Saif: 'If its ability to infect people is confined, it may also be viewed as a pandemic threat'
The Center to STOP COVID's Linda Saif, PhD, MS, and Anastasia Vlasova, DVM, PhD, both with Ohio State, are quoted in Science magazine regarding ongoing efforts to identify new coronaviruses that may be able to infect people as they emerge. EMS personnel awareness, training about personal protective equipment essential
"With the emergence of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), appropriate training for emergency medical services (EMS) personnel on personal protective equipment (PPE) is essential," Ashish R. Panchal, pictured, and his co-authors write in Prehospital Emergency Care. Eleven Ohio State scientists named AAAS Fellows
Dr. Shan-Lu Liu, professor of veterinary biosciences, was honored "for distinguished contributions to our understanding of virus-host interaction and viral pathogenesis, as well as impact on scientific communication, diversity and international collaboration." Learn more in this story from Ohio State News.
Study finds specific proteins inhibit or enhance virus that causes COVID-19
"Our new findings are potentially quite important because there are people who have mutations in the IFITM3 gene, possibly making them more susceptible not only to influenza but also SARS-CoV-2," said co-author Jacob Yount, an associate professor of Microbial Infection and Immunity and co-director of the Viruses and Emerging Pathogens Program at Ohio State's Infectious Disease Institute, in an article appearing at phys.org. COVID-19 antibodies on trial
As the initial readouts of trials of antibodies against COVID-19 are released, Nature Biotechnology asked Dr. Linda Saif, pictured, and others in a group of experts "to comment on the challenges and timelines for these products."