Chemistry responds to COVID-19

The PhD defense is the culmination and celebration of years of hard work. Many of our spring graduates defended their work under the shadow of uncertainty--was campus closing? Was gathering together safe? As understanding of COVID-19's spread in the United States grew, Emory's swift move to work-from-home helped to protect our community. At the same time, it caused students to have to work quickly to move long-anticipated milestones online.

In the Jui Group, three of the lab's founding graduate members defended their dissertations this month. Autumn Flynn was the last to defend in person on March 12th. On Friday, March 13th, David Vogt received the news that his defense would be virtual just hours before the event. He was able to Zoom the event from the chemistry seminar room on campus. Lastly, Ally Boyington, scheduled to defend on March 20th, was required to defend from home.

Disappointed, but undeterred, Ally mounted a fantastic defense from her own living room in front of scientists from across the country. In her free time, Ally is now making masks for healthcare workers.

All three Jui Group students are among the Emory chemists who will graduate this Spring with their hard-earned PhD.

Safety glasses and gloves form the core of chemistry Personal Protective Equipment, or "PPE." The chemistry stockroom has closed to the public as of Monday, March 23^rd. However, efforts are ongoing to share remaining stock of critical PPE supplies with Emory University Hospital to help protect health workers, beginning with a donation of the stockroom's remaining store of safety goggles.

Meanwhile, the hospital is also accepting donations from the broader Atlanta community.

Douglas Mulford is always a central figure at the annual Atlanta Science Festival, leading the demo show at Centennial Olympic Park attended by thousands of Atlantans.

With the news that this year’s festival would be cancelled, Mulford appeared on local CBS-affiliate CBS46 to share fun at-home science experiments. His efforts will keep science learning happening at home until our Atlanta community can once again gather for the excitement of the festival.

Dennis Liotta is the founder of DRIVE, a nonprofit that focuses on bridging the gap between scientific discoveries and the communities that might benefit, with a focus on translating academic research into drugs to treat alarming viral diseases. DRIVE is bringing its drug development expertise in infectious diseases such as SARS and MERS coronaviruses to bear on the global community’s attempts to contain and treat the latest coronavirus. Among other efforts, DRIVE has started a Go Fund Me to support further investigations of an anti-viral with promising applications to fight COVID-19.

The Liotta Research Group and the Emory Institute for Drug Development (EIDD) are also preparing a COVID-19 proposal entitled "Pilot Study to Prepare EIDD-2801 Using Continuous Flow Chemistry" in response to a  BAA from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) through the Office of Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). 

The Liotta Group is uniquely qualified to undertake this work due to their focus on the impact of diseases like coronavirus prior to the worldwide spread of COVID-19. EIDD-2801, set to start clinical trials in April, is one of the few antiviral agents that is NOT a “one bug, one drug" compound, meaning that it is active against multiple single stranded RNA viruses including, inter alia, influenza, Ebola and various equine encephalitis viruses. As a consequence, it would be an excellent compound to not only use to address the current COVID-19 pandemic, but also to prepare and store to help quell future pandemics. 

If successful, the requested federal funds could quickly pay for themselves while simultaneously demonstrating a positive governmental response to the COVID-19 pandemic when it is needed the most.