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.
— medRxiv preprint

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. Read more >

• Publication: Accelerated RNA detection using tandem CRISPR nucleases
• medRxiv preprint: Rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 with Cas13

Detection of active SARS-CoV-2 infections in crude and complex biofluids
Markita Landry, UC Berkeley. Read more > 

• Research spotlight: Markita Landry on Rapid, Nanosensor-Based Tests
• medRxiv preprint: Rapid SARS-CoV-2 Detection by Carbon Nanotube-Based Near-Infrared Nanosensors
• medRxiv preprint: 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. Read more >
— 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. Read more >

Real-time genomic tracking of SARS-CoV-2 evolution and spread in Northern California
Charles Chiu, UCSF. Read more >
— 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

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. Read more >

Community-based surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 transmission among California farmworkers
Joseph Lewnard, Brenda Eskenazi, and Ana María Mora-Wyrobek, UC Berkeley. Read more >
– Research Spotlight: Brenda Eskenazi on Risks to California Farmworkers
– medRxiv Preprint: Prevalence and clinical profile of SARS-CoV-2 infection among farmworkers in Monterey County, California: June-November, 2020
— medRxiv Preprint: Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Vaccine Hesitancy among Farmworkers from Monterey County, California
— medRxiv Preprint: Risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection among farmworkers in Monterey County, California

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
– medRxiv Preprint: Genome sequencing of sewage detects regionally prevalent SARS-CoV-2 variants
– medRxiv Preprint: 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. Read more >
– Research Spotlight: Hani Goodarzi on RNA Secondary Structure

Identification of host-dependency factors for SARS-CoV-2
Nevan Krogan and Melanie Ott, UCSF. Read more >
– Research Spotlight: Melanie Ott on Finding Cellular “Lifelines” for the Virus
— biRxiv 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. Read more >
– Research Spotlight: Bruce Wang on Creating an Atlas of COVID-19 Pathology

Exploring SARS-CoV-2 viruses using CRISPR-based yeast recombineering
Raul Andino and Hiten Madhani, UCSF. Read more >
– 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. Read more >
— bioRxiv Preprint: 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.
Read more >
– 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. Read more >

The QCRG structural consortium: targeting the host-pathogen interface
Oren Rosenberg and Kliment Verba, UCSF. Read more >
— bioRxiv Preprints: Multiple papers

Determining factors that inhibit the interaction between COVID-19 and its receptor on lung epithelial cells
Robert Stroud, UCSF. Read more >
– 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. Read more >
– 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. Read more >

Screening for small molecule inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 enzymes
Dan Nomura, Jamie Cate, et al., UC Berkeley. Read more >
– bioRxiv Preprint: 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. Read more >
– Research Spotlight: COVID-19 Research Spotlight: Anders Näär on Preventing Infection with Molecular Velcro
– bioRxiv Preprint: An intranasal ASO therapeutic targeting SARS-CoV-2