| IIDR Newsletter - Issue 36 March 27th, 2020
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Local researchers aim to test COVID-19 treatment in Hamilton
March 25th - Dr. Mark Loeb, Dr. Dominik Mertz, and Dr. Marek Smieja are all part of a team of Hamilton researchers that have raced against the clock to get a COVID-19 treatment trial off the ground. |
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"How our team isolated the new coronavirus to fight the global pandemic"
March 25th - "We want to learn everything we can about how it works, how it changes and how it interacts with the human immune system, so we can test drugs that may treat it, develop vaccines and diagnostics and prevent future pandemics" says Dr. Karen Mossman. |
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McMaster receives $1.8M in funding for COVID-19 research
March 20th - Dr. Gerry Wright and Dr. Karen Mossman have two of 49 projects across Canada that have been allocated a total of $25 million in funding from the CIHR. Dr. Wright's therapeutics project focuses on targeting genetic and chemical vulnerabilities of novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Dr. Mossman's transmission dynamics and animal host project focuses on SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis in human and bat cells, and development of in vitro and in vivo infection models. |
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| McMaster researcher plays key role in isolating COVID-19 virus for use in urgent research
March 12th - Dr. Arinjay Banerjee, a postdoctoral researcher within Dr. Karen Mossman's lab, played a critical role on a small team that has successfully isolated and grown copies of the virus responsible for COVID-19, enabling urgent Canadian research into how it behaves and how it might be controlled. |
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IIDR Insights on the Novel Coronavirus |
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COVID-19 - Expert Videos
The Need to Know series features McMaster researchers sharing their expertise and recommendations on the recent COVID-19 outbreak.
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Busting Myths with Dr. Dawn Bowdish
March 25th - Dr. Dawn Bowdish joins the hosts of the Sickboy podcast to answer questions about how severe this virus is and the importance of social distancing. |
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| McMaster Helps Arm Health-care Providers
March 24th - Researchers across campus have collected thousands of masks, goggles, gloves, face shields, cleanroom suits, sanitizer and swabs for use by local health care providers as they work to combat COVID–19. |
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| What We Know and What We Don’t Know
March 18th - Dr. Mark Loeb and Dr. Dawn Bowdish spoke to Zoomer magazine about why older adults get sicker and whether or not people should wear masks. |
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Canadian Researchers Make Novel COVID-19 Breakthrough
March 17th - Dr. Karen Mossman speaks with Global News Toronto to discuss the major strides made by the Canadian research team that isolated the virus, and their findings.
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| Scientists see no quick end to the coronavirus battle
March 16th - The COVID-19 projection by Dr. Jonathan Dushoff and Dr. Ben Bolker suggests that the epidemic would take nearly two months to reach its peak with no health measures in place. This agrees with projections that epidemiologists have been working with since the basic characteristics of the virus became known. |
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| Flattening vs Shrinking: The Math of #FlattenTheCurve
March 15th - Flattening the curve is a pervasive and useful idea. McMaster scientists Dr. Bolker and Dr. Dushoff explain why it’s important to take steps to limit the spread of Coronavirus, even if we don’t think we can stop it from spreading around the world. |
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COVID-19 vaccine research takes on new urgency
March 14th - A vaccine would prevent the pandemic from spreading as fast as it is now, says Dr. Charu Kaushic, scientific director of CIHR's Institute of Infection and Immunity. |
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| Is the COVID-19 coronavirus the pathogen of the century 'everyone is waiting for'?
March 7th - Community spread “is going be widespread, it’s going to be severe, people will get ill, and we have to prepare for all of this,” explains McMaster University infectious diseases expert Dr. Mark Loeb. |
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How can we solve the antibiotic resistance crisis?
March 16th - AMR expert & IIDR director Dr. Gerry Wright shares what we can do about the important global challenge of antibiotic resistance in this informative lesson from TED-Ed.
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Five research superwomen from GlycoNet you need to know
March 8th - In honour of International Women’s Day, GylcoNet introduced five scientists who are working to build a healthier Canada. The list includes our very own Dr. Lori Burrows, whos knowledge of bacterial resistance and Type IV pili could lead to the development of more effective vaccines for tuberculosis.
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How are new antibiotics discovered?
February 28th - Dr. Jakob Magolan's lab welcomed 60 indigenous students from four local high schools to the IIDR and DBCAD. The students were split into groups of 15 and given two 30-minute “science lab tours” within the institute with the combined scientific theme of antibiotic discovery. The event was organized by Dr. Magolan and involved trainees Zoe Piquette, Meghan Fragis, and Haley Zubyk. |
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5th Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance
October 17th - 25th, Les Pensières, Annecy, France
The emergence and spread of bacteria resistant to many drug classes seriously threaten all branches of modern medicine. There is currently no course providing advanced instruction on antibiotics and resistance. The specific goal of ICARe is to bring leaders in academics and industry together with trained scientists at the dawn of their careers. Cutting-edge approaches for the study of resistance and antibiotic discovery will be examined. Learn more and apply online here.
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Have Something Exciting to Share?
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Christy GrovesCommunications Coordinator
Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research David Braley Centre for Antibiotic Discovery
MDCL 2235 | McMaster University (905) 525-9140 x 22448 grovec3@mcmaster.ca www.iidr.mcmaster.ca |
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