Lovelace Biomedical and National Jewish Health to Host Webinar; Clinical and Translational Response to COVID-19
A “fireside chat” with Dr. Greg Downey, MD, Executive Vice President, Academic Affairs, National Jewish Health, and Dr. Meghan Vermillion, DVM, PhD, DACLAM, Dir. Comparative Med, Lovelace Biomedical. Moderated by Dr. Jake McDonald, Chief Scientific Officer, Lovelace Biomedical.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., April 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Lovelace Biomedical, alongside National Jewish Health, will hold a live webinar on May 4, 2020, at 11:00 AM MST. This fireside chat will discuss current status of COVID-19, (the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus) based on observations from the front lines of medicine, diagnostics and research.
Webinar registration: https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2117/34375
Dr. Greg Downey (National Jewish Health), will discuss clinical presentation, treatment strategies and status of clinical trials to treat COVID-19. He will also discuss current status of diagnostic testing, and the pros/cons of the approaches that are being used. Dr. Vermillion, (Lovelace Biomedical), will discuss current efforts in the preclinical research arena to study the virus using cell culture and animal models.
Currently there is a frenzy of activity across the medical and research community to help create solutions to help battle SARS-CoV-2. Much of what is currently known about the highly pathogenic human coronaviruses was developed with the 2003 SARS-CoV outbreak. The webinar discussion will include a comparison of the pathogenesis and immune response in both humans and relevant animal models to SARS-CoV-2 and to SARS-CoV viruses.
The previous research into coronaviruses has formed the basis of many approaches for treatment, the development of animal models, and for diagnostic testing. There are currently a number of clinical trials under way that are re-purposing existing drugs (hydroxychloroquine +/- azithromycin), antivirals (remdesivir, EIDD-1931), immunomodulatory therapy (anti-IL-6), advancing the use of convalescent plasma, or testing rapidly developed vaccines. The studies have been rapidly deployed and the results are becoming available in real time. In parallel, there has been a significant increase in the availability of both rapid diagnostic and laboratory-directed tests that measure either the presence of virus, or humoral immune response associated with the infection. Preclinical research strategies are aimed at modeling the human condition and either discovering or optimizing novel drug targets that either reduce viral infection or mitigate the associated disease.
About Lovelace Biomedical
Lovelace Biomedical is a contract research organization that helps pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies advance their complex drug development studies from the preclinical stage, and on to clinical trials. For over 70 years the organization has leveraged its multidisciplinary expertise in toxicology, gene therapy, medical countermeasures, and more, to provide excellence in preclinical research and fully understand the behavior of its clients’ investigational products.
About National Jewish Health
National Jewish Health is the leading respiratory hospital in the nation. Founded 121 years ago as a nonprofit hospital, National Jewish Health today is the only facility in the world dedicated exclusively to groundbreaking medical research and treatment of patients with respiratory, cardiac, immune and related disorders. Patients and families come to National Jewish Health from around the world to receive cutting-edge, comprehensive, coordinated care.
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