COVID-19 Research

The Department awarded intra-departmental pilot funding of $50,000 per award for COVID-related research projects to 3 Principal Investigators:

  • Giorgio Inghirami, MD "Molecular and functional characterization of the B-cell repertoire of SARS-CoV-2 positive patients"
  • Pengbo Zhou, PhD "Small Molecular Inhibitor Rewires Cellular Protein to Augment its Anti-viral Activity against SARS-CoV-2"
  • Stephen Josefowicz, PhD "Epigenetic Poising of Inflammation:Implications for COVID-19 Severity and Long-Term Sequelae."

Yaiwei Yang, MD, PhD was awarded a $100,000 WCM COVID-19 Research Grant for her proposal, “Virologic and Immunologic Factors that affect COVID-19 Prevalence and Infection in Pregnant Women and their Neonates”. Her work to study the viral, immunological, and placental factors that influence clinical severity in pregnant women and their neonates will be extremely important in expanding our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 and developing therapies for COVID-19.

The Dean’s Office awarded Melissa Cushing, MD $250,000 for a Laboratory Medicine COVID-19 Research Grant. This grant establishes a research program for the Division of Laboratory Medicine to investigate and develop diagnostic tests for COVID-19. There are multiple ongoing projects supported by this grant, including the development of SARS-CoV-2 sequencing platforms, improvements in diagnostic assays for COVID-19 and assays to assess and further understand the immune response to SARS-CoV-2. The faculty in Laboratory Medicine collaborate on these projects with co-investigators within Weill Cornell Medicine, as well as from Cornell Ithaca, Columbia University, and around the country.

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