AwardInnovationPartnershipTraining Imperial women tackling COVID-19
From modelling the spread and impact of the pandemic to developing a prototype vaccine, the global COVID-19 research effort draws on the expertise of researchers from a range of different disciplines.
Professor Azra Ghani (Associate Director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis)
Mathematical models developed by Professor Azra Ghani and colleagues at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, have played a key role in informing the government’s new and more stringent coronavirus strategy announced on Monday 16 March.
Professor Christl Donnelly (Associate Director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis)
Professor Christl Donnelly works in collaborative groups analysing the transmissibility of the virus that causes COVID-19, the case fatality ratio, the effectiveness of international surveillance and the predicted impacts of control measures among other topics
Dr Anne Cori (Mathematical and statistical modeller at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis)
Dr Anne Cori is a lecturer in the School of Public Health’s Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology. She worked in January and February – before her maternity leave – on the analysis and modelling of early COVID-19 incidence data.
Rebecca Frise (Research technician in Professor Wendy Barclay’s Influenza Group)
Rebecca is part of a team that aims to understand how SARS-CoV2 – the virus that caused COVID-19 – is able to transmit using an animal model. Further understanding of the transmission and pathology of the virus would be valuable in the development of therapeutic and preventative strategies.
Dr Anna Blakney (Post-doctoral research fellow based at the Section of Mucosal Infection and Immunity, Department of Infectious Diseases)
Dr Anna Blakney is part of Professor Robin Shattock’s group who has developed a prototype vaccine for COVID-19. The team took a record 14 days to get from the genetic sequencing of the virus to generating the trial vaccine in the lab. The prototype vaccine is currently being trailed in animal models.
Professor Wendy Barclay (Action Medical Research Chair in Virology, Department of Infectious Disease)
Professor Wendy Barclay pioneers work into how respiratory viruses like influenza spread, and is spear-heading efforts to apply this knowledge to COVID-19. Professor Barclay has worked extensively with the media, providing expert comment in a number of outlets such as New Scientist, BBC World at One, and The Times. She is one of the leading members of the newly-established COVID-19 BRC Theme.
Research in the Department of Infectious Diseases is supported by NIHR Imperial BRC.
For full story by Ellyw Evans, Imperial Today please click here
