Title: COVID-19: How has the scientific community risen to the challenge?

As the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 spreads around the world, scientists have raced to develop vaccines and tests in order to curb the infection. Throughout history, some of the greatest advances in science and medicine have come out of the worst situations. During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale, among others, revolutionized the practice of nursing; by cracking the Enigma code in the Second World War, Alan Turing brought about the earliest computer; and the Cold War battle of will between America and the USSR resulted in the first man on the moon. Whatever the war, whichever the countries in battle, scientific advancement remained a neutral good that would benefit all involved. Now, the latest war the world at large has faced is not between countries, but between mankind and a virus. “Nous sommes en guerre [We are at war],” announced French president Emmanuel Macron on 16 March 2020; a statement soon to be adopted by other world leaders across the globe as all nations began to acknowledge the severity of the coronavirus situation. However, despite the delay in political recognition of the virus, the scientific community was already on the frontline. On the same date as Macron's declaration, the first Phase I trial for a vaccine for the novel coronavirus was announced by the biotechnology company Moderna, Inc. (MA, USA) [1]. By the time politicians and the world at large began taking the virus seriously, scientists had already determined the full genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 [2], isolated it from clinical samples [3], and were on the hunt for drug combinations that could be repurposed against this novel strain. The scientific community had risen to the challenge before many others even acknowledged that it existed.

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Company  Product  Process  Other  Subjects  Event  Event  Date  Location  Publication  Publication  Date Text  Descriptor
  • Cooperation

 

  • Health

  • Health and Safety

 

 

 

  • BioTechniques

 

  • 6/1/2020

 

  • Article