NEIDL in the News
Yes to Masks. No to Parties. 2021 Will Be a Lot Like 2020
Original article from WIRED by Maryn Mckenna. December 31, 2020 Sorry, folks: Thanks to Covid, next year won’t be much more fun than this one, at least until enough vaccines arrive.. The morning of November 11, 1918, dawned cool and drizzly in France. It wasn’t quiet, though. The Armistice that stopped what... More
The COVID-19 Vaccines: Everything You Need to Know
Original article from The Brink by Kat J. McAlpine. December 16, 2020 With a long-awaited coronavirus vaccine finally shining a light at the end of the long, dark tunnel that has been 2020, The Brink reached out to Boston University COVID-19 experts Davidson Hamer and Judy Platt for answers to so... More
Infectious Disease Specialist Games Out When Most People Will Get Access To COVID-19 Vaccine (Interview with Dr. Nahid Bhadelia)
Original interview from GBH. November 30, 2020 Moderna announced Monday that it was officially submitting its coronavirus vaccine to the FDA for emergency use approval, following in the footsteps of Pfizer, with a target date of December 21 to start delivering the first injections. But significant questions remain regarding the logistics... More
‘The end is in sight’: Experts express optimism about COVID-19 pandemic coming to a close
Original article from The Boston Globe by Dasia Moore. November 21, 2020 While the coronavirus continued to rip through the country and daily counts of new infections rose to record heights, the seemingly impossible occurred: good news. Promising trials from Pfizer and Moderna suggest that highly effective COVID-19 vaccines could be available... More
With Two COVID-19 Vaccines on the Way, “We Are in New Territory” (Interview w/ Drs. Corley & Douam)
Original article from The Brink by Kat J. McAlpine. November 17, 2020 A week after Pfizer caused excitement by announcing that its coronavirus vaccine has been more than 90 percent effective in early trials, Moderna came out with its own announcement that its version of a coronavirus vaccine had reached more... More
After Promising Moderna Results, A Public Health Expert Breaks Down The Race For A Vaccine (Interview w/ Dr. Hamer)
Original article from WBUR CommonHealth by Bob Oakes. November 16, 2020 Shares in Cambridge-based Moderna are soaring in premarket trading following positive news about its experimental COVID-19 vaccine. The company reported Monday that thee vaccine was nearly 95% effective in preventing the virus in early U.S. trials. The news comes a week after... More
Tonight’s University Lecture: On the Front Lines against COVID in the Lab, Science Will Win
Original article from BU Today by Joel Brown. November 17, 2020 Joseph Mizgerd hasn’t lost anyone to COVID-19 personally, but that doesn’t mean the pandemic hasn’t affected him. “I’ve had several deaths in the family that were not due to COVID, but they were still deaths that we would like to be... More
What Does Pfizer’s Vaccine News Mean for the Coronavirus Pandemic? (Interview w/ Drs. Connor & Douam)
Original article from The Brink by Kat J. McAlpine. November 10, 2020 As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, with the United States recently reaching a peak of more than 120,000 new cases in a single day, a glimmer of hope appeared on the horizon this week. Pfizer announced that early data... More
Toolkit: How to Stay Safe in COVID Winter (Interview w/ Dr. Bhadelia)
Original interview from In The Bubble with Andy Slavitt. November 9, 2020 With COVID-19 cases surging around the country and winter fast approaching, this may be the most important toolkit episode yet. Infectious diseases physician Nahid Bhadelia and indoor air quality expert Richard Corsi answer every tough question about winter safety... More
The Concept of Coronavirus Herd Immunity Is Deadly and Dangerous
Original article from SELF by Tara C. Smith. November 9, 2020 We’re eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, cases have risen to record levels and officially hit over 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases on November 4. More than 230,000 Americans are confirmed to have died from COVID-19 to... More
No Symptoms? Boston Mayor Walsh Says Get a COVID-19 Test Anyway
Original article from GBH by Craig LeMoult. October 27, 2020 Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is encouraging all city residents to get tested for coronavirus, even if they have no symptoms. "Getting tested is how we keep families and yourself safe," Walsh said in a Tuesday interview with GBH News. "It's also how... More
Another ominous coronavirus sign: Massachusetts cases reach 5-month high
Original article from The Boston Globe by Martin Finucane and Jeremy C. Fox. October 22, 2020 The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Massachusetts jumped by 986 Thursday — the highest count of new cases in nearly five months — as more than 20 percent of the state’s cities and towns... More
This Fall’s College Reopenings Were a Mess—Here’s How to Avoid COVID-19 Outbreaks Next Semester
Original article from TIME by Gavin Yamey and Nahid Bhadelia. September 29, 2020 Despite dire warnings this summer from public health experts, over a third of U.S. colleges and universities went full steam ahead with reopening, saying they had no choice due to financial or political pressures. The results, in some... More
In Deadly COVID-19 Lung Inflammation, BU Researchers Discover a Culprit in NFkB Pathway
Original article from The Brink by Kat J. McAlpine. September 24, 2020 As the coronavirus pandemic ripped through through the United States in March, scientists at Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) and the Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) dropped all other research to focus exclusively on the SARS-CoV-2... More
Local Epidemiologist Says She’s ‘Heartbroken’ By CDC Mixed Messages On COVID-19: Interview with Dr. Bhadelia
Original article from WGBH by Matt Baskin and Arun Rath. September 22, 2020 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was set up in part to act as a leader for state and local public health officials and doctors on the ground in moments of crisis. But during this pandemic, More
BU researchers say they found what causes fatal lung inflammation in COVID-19 patients
Original article from Boston 25 News. September 21, 2020 Among a sea of symptoms in patients with COVID-19 is severe inflammation of the lungs, leading to decreased lung function, the need for a ventilator and possibly even death. COVID-19, a variation of acute respiratory infections, wreaks havoc on the respiratory system by... More
The lasting misery of coronavirus long-haulers
Original article from Nature by Michael Marshall. September 14, 2020 The lung scans were the first sign of trouble. In the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, clinical radiologist Ali Gholamrezanezhad began to notice that some people who had cleared their COVID-19 infection still had distinct signs of damage. “Unfortunately, sometimes... More
What Sets Off Deadly Levels of Lung Inflammation in Some COVID-19 Patients? (Video)
Original article from The Brink by Kat J. McAlpine & Carlos Soler. September 8, 2020 A team of infectious disease and regenerative medicine researchers at Boston University, studying human stem cell–derived lung tissue infected with SARS-CoV-2, are discovering new insights into how the novel coronavirus kicks off a cascade of tissue... More
BU lab using microscopic ‘lungs’ to study COVID-19 (Video)
Original article from Boston 25 News by Jim Morelli. August 5, 2020 Scientists sometimes use human lung cancer cells in medical research. But there's just one problem with that, said virologist Elke Muhlberger, PhD. “These cancer cells do not act like lung cells,” she said. “They act like cancer cells.” For her research... More
The new rules for packing a bag during the pandemic
Original article from Science News by Natalie B. Compton. August 3, 2020 Before the pandemic, packing for a flight had a lot to do with your travel style and destination. A carry-on bag for a beach vacation might include a sun hat and a beach read. You could count on business... More