IGI COVID-19 Research Projects
IGI COVID-19 Research Projects
We are working rapidly to better understand, detect, track, and develop therapies for the novel coronavirus through a range of COVID-19 research projects.
Overview
The IGI accelerated research efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, awarding over $2 million in funding to new COVID-19 research projects through our Rapid Response Research (RRR) fund and the Laboratory for Genomics Research (LGR) Excellence in Research Award(ERA). Because of the urgency of this public health crisis, this funding is awarded to projects expected to yield results in just 6–12 months.
These research projects span a variety of approaches aimed at quickly gaining a better understanding of SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 pandemic to track its spread, develop new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, and to address the impacts of the pandemic on science.
Our COVID-19 Research
Optimizing COVID-19 control with asymptomatic surveillance testing in a university environment.
Cara E. Brook, Graham R. Northrup, Alexander J. Ehrenberg, Jennifer Doudna, and Mike Boots.
— Publication: Optimizing COVID-19 control with asymptomatic surveillance testing in a university environment
Launching a saliva-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance testing program on a university campus.
Alexander J. Ehrenberg, Erica A. Moehle, Cara E. Brook, Andrew H. Doudna Cate, Lea B. Witkowsky, Rohan Sachdeva, Ariana Hirsch, Kerrie Barry, Jennifer R. Hamilton, Enrique Lin-Shiao, Shana McDevitt, Luis Valentin-Alvarado, Kaitlyn N. Letourneau, Lauren Hunter, Kathleen Pestal, Phillip A. Frankino, Andrew Murley, Divya Nandakumar, Elizabeth C. Stahl, Connor Tsuchida, Holly K. Gildea, Andrew G. Murdock, Megan L. Hochstrasser, Lucie Bardet, Carolyn Sherry, IGI SARS-CoV-2 Consortium, Anna Harte, Guy Nicolette, Petros Giannikopoulos, Dirk Hockemeyer, Maya Petersen, Fyodor D. Urnov, Bradley R. Ringeisen, Mike Boots, Jennifer A. Doudna
— Publication: Launching a saliva-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance testing program on a university campus
Next-generation CRISPR-based diagnostics for SARS-CoV-2
Jennifer Doudna, Patrick Hsu, and Dave Savage, UC Berkeley.
— Publication: Accelerated RNA detection using tandem CRISPR nucleases
— Coverage: Using Two CRISPR Enzymes, a COVID Diagnostic In Only 20 Minutes
Detection of active SARS-CoV-2 infections in crude and complex biofluids
Markita Landry, UC Berkeley.
— Research spotlight: Markita Landry on Rapid, Nanosensor-Based Tests
— Publication: Rapid SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Detection by Carbon Nanotube-Based Near-Infrared Nanosensors
— Publication: Extraction of Viral Nucleic Acids with Carbon Nanotubes Increases SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR Detection Sensitivity
Robotic RNA extraction for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance using saliva samples
Jennifer R. Hamilton, Elizabeth C. Stahl, Connor A. Tsuchida, Enrique Lin-Shiao, C. Kimberly Tsui, Kathleen Pestal, Holly K. Gildea, Lea B. Witkowsky, Erica A. Moehle, Shana L. McDevitt, Matthew McElroy, Amanda Keller, Iman Sylvain, Ariana Hirsh, Alison Ciling, Alexander J. Ehrenberg, IGI SARS-CoV-2 Consortium, Bradley R. Ringeisen, Garth Huberty, Fyodor D. Urnov, Petros Giannikopoulos, Jennifer A. Doudna.
— Publication: Robotic RNA extraction for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance using saliva samples
IGI-LuNER: single-well multiplexed RT-qPCR test for SARS-CoV-2
Elizabeth C. Stahl, Connor A. Tsuchida, Jennifer R. Hamilton, Enrique Lin-Shiao, Shana L. McDevitt, Erica A. Moehle, Lea B. Witkowsky, C. Kimberly Tsui, Kathleen Pestal, Holly K. Gildea, Matthew McElroy, Amanda Keller, Iman Sylvain, Clara Williams, Ariana Hirsh, Alison Ciling, Alexander J. Ehrenberg, IGI SARS-CoV-2 Consortium, Fyodor D. Urnov, Bradley R. Ringeisen, Petros Giannikopoulos, Jennifer A. Doudna.
— medRxiv preprint
Next-generation sequencing to inform COVID-19 outbreak response in Madagascar
Cara E. Brook, UC Berkeley.
— Publication: A year of genomic surveillance reveals how the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic unfolded in Africa
Rapid, low-cost, high-throughput viral and metagenome sequencing of COVID-19 patient samples for outbreak surveillance
Liana Lareau and Stacia Wyman, UC Berkeley.
Real-time genomic tracking of SARS-CoV-2 evolution and spread in Northern California
Charles Chiu, UCSF.
— Publication: Genomic surveillance reveals multiple introductions of SARS-CoV-2 into Northern California
— Publication: Transmission, infectivity, and neutralization of a spike L452R SARS-CoV-2 variant
— Publication: Predominance of antibody-resistant SARS-CoV-2 variants in vaccine breakthrough cases from the San Francisco Bay Area, California
Community-based longitudinal study of asymptomatic carriage and seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the Northern California Bay Area
Eva Harris and Lisa Barcellos, UC Berkeley.
— Publication: Health inequities in SARS-CoV-2 infection, seroprevalence, and COVID-19 vaccination: Results from the East Bay COVID-19 study
Community-based surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 transmission among California farmworkers
Joseph Lewnard, Brenda Eskenazi, and Ana María Mora-Wyrobek, UC Berkeley.
— Research Spotlight: Brenda Eskenazi on Risks to California Farmworkers
— Publication: Risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection among farmworkers in Monterey County, California
— Publication: Prevalence and clinical profile of SARS-CoV-2 infection among farmworkers in Monterey County, California: June-November, 2020
— Publication: Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Vaccine Hesitancy among Farmworkers from Monterey County, California
— Publication: Association of upper respiratory Streptococcus pneumoniae colonization with SARS-CoV-2 infection among adults
Early detection of COVID-19 reemergence via strain-level surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 and RNA viromes in municipal wastewater
Kara Nelson and Jill Banfield, UC Berkeley. Read more >
— Research Spotlight: Kara Nelson on Tracking Spread Through Wastewater
— Publication: Sewage, Salt, Silica and SARS-CoV-2 (4S): An economical kit-free method for direct capture of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from wastewater
— Publication: Genome sequencing of sewage detects regionally prevalent SARS-CoV-2 variants
Discovering and targeting the RNA structural code underlying SARS-CoV-2 life cycle
Hani Goodarzi, UCSF.
— Research Spotlight: Hani Goodarzi on RNA Secondary Structure
Identification of host-dependency factors for SARS-CoV-2
Nevan Krogan and Melanie Ott, UCSF.
— Research Spotlight: Melanie Ott on Finding Cellular “Lifelines” for the Virus
— bioRxiv Preprint: SARS-CoV-2 infection studies in lung organoids identify TSPAN8 as novel mediator
— Publication: Plitidepsin has potent preclinical efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 by targeting the host protein eEF1A
Transcriptomic features of cellular and tissue pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 infection in human tissues
Bruce Wang, UCSF.
— Research Spotlight: Bruce Wang on Creating an Atlas of COVID-19 Pathology
— Publication: Single-nuclei characterization of pervasive transcriptional signatures across organs in response to COVID-19
Exploring SARS-CoV-2 viruses using CRISPR-based yeast recombineering
Raul Andino and Hiten Madhani, UCSF.
— Research Spotlight: Hiten Madhani on Developing a Live-Attenuated Vaccine
Inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 virulence protein function using functional genomics and structural biology
Britt Glaunsinger, UC Berkeley.
— Publication: The N-terminal and central domains of CoV-2 nsp1 play key functional roles in suppression of cellular gene expression and preservation of viral gene expression
Virtual mentoring: Impacts of COVID-19 on the next generation of the scientific workforce.
Laleh Coté, LBNL & UC Berkeley; Anne Baranger, UC Berkeley; and Colette Flood, LBNL.
— Research Spotlight: Laleh Coté on Virtual Mentoring
— Publication: Reflections on Conducting Research From Home During COVID-19
Structural studies of the COVID-19 replication/transcription holo-complex
Eva Nogales, UC Berkeley.
The QCRG structural consortium: targeting the host-pathogen interface
Oren Rosenberg and Kliment Verba, UCSF.
— bioRxiv Preprints: Multiple papers
Determining factors that inhibit the interaction between COVID-19 and its receptor on lung epithelial cells
Robert Stroud, UCSF.
— bioRxiv Preprint: Bi-paratopic and multivalent human VH domains neutralize SARS-CoV-2 by targeting distinct epitopes within the ACE2 binding interface of Spike
— bioRxiv Preprint: Peptide antidotes to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)
Epigenome editing: a new prophylactic SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic
Luke Gilbert, UCSF and Jonathan Weissman, Whitehead Institute.
— Research Spotlight: Luke Gilbert on an Epigenetic Pretreatment
A Cas9-based shuttle enhancing cellular import and nuclear localization of plasmid DNA as an adjuvant of non-viral SARS-CoV-2 DNA vaccines entering human trials
Alex Marson, UCSF and Ross Wilson, UC Berkeley.
Screening for small molecule inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 enzymes
Dan Nomura, Jamie Cate, et al., UC Berkeley.
— Publication: Screening a library of FDA-approved and bioactive compounds for antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2
Development of antisense oligonucleotide therapeutics for COVID-19
Anders Näär, UC Berkeley.
— Research Spotlight: COVID-19 Research Spotlight: Anders Näär on Preventing Infection with Molecular Velcro
— Publication: An intranasal ASO therapeutic targeting SARS-CoV-2
Hear From Our Researchers
Liana Lareau
Assistant Professor of Bioengineering
Britt Glaunsinger
Professor of Molecular & Cell Biology/Plant & Microbial Biology