Berkeley, CA, 6/15/2021 Utilizing the Drug Discovery Center library of FDA-approved and well-studied preclinical and clinical compounds to screen for antivirals against SARS-CoV-2 in human pulmonary epithelial cells, we identified 13 compounds that exhibit potent antiviral activity across multiple orthogonal assays. Hits include known antivirals, compounds with anti-inflammatory activity, and compounds targeting host pathways such

Berkeley, CA, 3/10/2021 UC Berkeley has joined the University of California Drug Discovery Consortium, or UC DDC, a cross-campus initiative aimed at building a drug discovery community that actively promotes research translation through industry partnerships (https://www.ucdrugdiscovery.org/). UC DDC provides UC researchers with funding, mentorship, and resources to advance the creation of drugs that address important unmet

On March 21, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Uganda, from a young adult who had been traveling back from Dubai. On March 22, 2020, UC Berkeley Faculty Dr. Sarah Stanley reached out to UC Berkeley’s Center for Emerging and Neglected Diseases (CEND), with an urgent question: what can we do to

Shigellosis, also known as “bacillary dysentery” is an acute infection of the intestine caused by Shigella bacteria. Complications from this infection lead to more than 200,000 deaths every year, primarily among infants. UC Berkeley co-authors, Patrick Mitchell and Justin Roncaioli, develop the first oral infection mouse model for Shigella infection that recapitulates human disease. They

Covid Catalyst Awardee, Janet Wojcicki, and her team at UCSF  release findings in a new study (not yet peer-reviewed) “Latinx families in the Bay Area with children are experiencing a sharp rise in food insecurity levels during the COVID-19 epidemic.” Read the full story on the preprint server medRxiv, and the press release by Suzanne Leigh,

The researchers engineered a completely synthetic, production-ready molecule that straitjackets the crucial SARS-CoV-2 machinery that allows the virus to infect our cells. In an aerosol formulation they tested, these molecules could be self-administered with a nasal spray or inhaler. Read the full story on the preprint server bioRxiv

In response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, policy makers need to make decisions quickly. Unfortunately, they are missing powerful, flexible analytical tools to do this. Dr. Getz and Dr. Salter designed a new web app called NMB-DASA, to evaluate the impact of different parameter values and drivers on incidence rates, including, surveillance, social distancing (rate and efficacy), social relaxation, quarantining

Through groundbreaking studies on dengue and efforts to build scientific infrastructure in Latin America, the University of California, Berkeley, professor has bridged research with its benefits to society. Read the article on the scientist website

On January 10th, 2020, Dr. Hailing Jin stood in Li Ka Shing at the 12th Annual CEND Symposium, presenting her work on small RNA trafficking between plants and fungal pathogens. Through her research, she reported, she has found that pathogen gene-targeting RNAs represent a new generation of fungicides that are durable and eco-friendly. Her talk

COVID Catalyst Awardees Announced!   Congratulations to our Covid Catalyst awardees for being selected for bridge funding for their high-risk, innovative, and important research on the Covid-19 pandemic. Awardees by institution: UC Berkeley Kunxin Luo – High affinity soluble ACE2 decoy receptor approach for Covid-19             Russell Vance –  Targeting the inflammasome