Coronavirus research funding announced

Several projects to tackle the novel coronavirus have been announced by the University of Sydney-led NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

The NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Emerging Infectious Diseases (CREID), a multi-state Australian research program led by Professor Tania Sorrell, Director of the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, has announced funding of more than $700,000 will be directed at coronavirus-related projects.

CREID has announced it is directing almost $300,000 in research funding to tackle the emergence of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. By joining forces with the Australian Partnership for Preparedness Research on Infectious Disease Emergencies (APPRISE), a total of more than $700,000 has been made available for research into the virus SARS-CoV-2, and the resultant disease COVID-19.

Projects led by the University of Sydney range from infection prevention to social media and misinformation.

The new projects are:

  • Deep sequencing to better understand the dynamics of within-host viral diversity during prolonged, severe SARS-CoV-2 infection - John-Sebastian Eden.
  • Diagnosis of COVID-19 (evaluation of nucleic acid testing and viral culture, in-house and commercial) - Jen Kok, David Smith, John-Sebastian Eden
  • COVID-19 infection prevention & control - Lyn Gilbert, Chris Degeling
  • Serology of Australian healthcare workers caring for individuals exposed to or diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 - Matthew O'Sullivan
  • Understanding host response of severe viral pneumonitis - Ben Tang
  • Community awareness, perceptions and behaviour about COVID-19, its prevention and management: informing risk communication - Julie Leask, Kerrie Wiley, Claire Hooker, Adam Dunn.- Infectious Diseases and "Infodemics" - The Role of Social Media in Individual and Collective Meaning Making - Christian Ehnis, Deborah Bunker.
  • Biosecurity and biocontainment of high-consequence infections: Principles & practice - Gabriella Scandurra.
  • The role of bad information and flawed cognition in the spread of disease: the case of COVID-19 - Nick Enfield.
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