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Top COVID-19 Research: Timely, Curated and Vetted by Experts

ASM is keeping the pulse of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. In the eye of a pandemic, the need for a trusted, up-to-date resource of coronavirus research plays a crucial role in supporting the scientific community on the frontlines fighting the virus.

This registry includes top-ranked, COVID-19 research articles curated by experts and serves as a resource for scientists working together to address fundamental science and accelerate scientific research on SARS-CoV-2.

BASIC VIROLOGY

How is the genome of SARS-CoV-2 evolving? What mechanism does the coronavirus use to target human cells? How does the immune system react to SARS-CoV-2?

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CLINICAL DIAGNOSTICS

Will serology provide the ultimate answer? Does the existence of the antibody equal protection due to antibody neutralization? How often should patients be tested?

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TREATMENT

What are the results of the newest treatment? What drugs are in the pipeline? What are the latest outcomes from clinical trials?

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PREVENTION

What are the different kinds of vaccines? Do coronaviruses evolve to escape vaccines? What have we learned from work with Ebola virus and SARS vaccines development?

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EPIDEMIOLOGY

How does a pandemic start? How long will this pandemic last: can data models give us some hints? COVID-19 affects people differently depending on their age, how does this affect transmission? How does social distancing influence transmission rates?

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GENERAL REVIEWS

Scientifically speaking, what is a coronavirus? What are the similarities and differences in structure and activities of SARS, MERS and SARS-CoV-2? What is the PK/PD of Remdesivir?

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COVID-19 Research Registry - Editorial Volume 2

July 20, 2020

Three months have passed since the COVID-19 Research Registry was launched. As of today, over 30,000 users have visited the registry. The strong support from the many users of the registry is gratifying. Designed for the scientific research community, the registry will continue to be a trusted source for credible science about COVID-19 in specific, and coronaviruses, in general.

The number of published and pre-print articles continues to accelerate over the past 3 months, which has presented some significant challenges. We screened over 2,500 articles each week to select relevant and high-quality papers to populate the registry. This effort is a partnership between ASM staff and my colleagues in the curatorial board and curators team. I cannot thank them enough for their hard work and contributions!

Besides the sheer volume of papers, another challenge is to balance different viewpoints and to present objective and credible science to the scientific community. It is not easy when new findings come out every week and conflicting results appear. Our goal is to collect the best papers and resolve conflicts by keeping ourselves updated with the rapid development of the field. Your suggestions and opinions are welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Starting in Aug., we will add a new activity to the registry. The curatorial board will host a monthly COVID-19 Registry Virtual Journal Club on the third Thursday of each month at 2 p.m. EST. The inaugural event will take place on Thursday, Aug. 20 at 2 p.m. EST. We envision this will be a robust forum to engage the research community and interested learners in scientific discussions, collaborative networking and information sharing on the topic of research and discoveries on SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses. Please mark your calendar. Registration information will be available at the beginning of Aug.

Sincerely,

Biweekly Commentary Letter

Feb. 26, 2021

By C.A.M. (Xander) de Haan, Ph.D., Associate Professor in virus-host interactions at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Dr. de Haan is one of the curators of the registry.

“Intranasal ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/AZD1222 vaccination reduces shedding of SARS-CoV-2 D614G in rhesus macaques” by van Doremalen, N., et al., published on bioRxiv on Jan. 11, 2021.

Ideally, SARS-CoV-2 vaccines provide sterilizing immunity, meaning that they not only protect against disease, but also prevent replication in the upper respiratory tract and onward transmission. Within 1 year after the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, many vaccines targeting this virus are in clinical trials and several have already been approved. These vaccines protect against disease with different efficacies, but not necessarily prevent shedding of virus, as least as determined in non-human primates. This is probably associated with the intramuscular (IM) administration of these vaccines, which results in the induction of systemic IgG antibodies that protect the lungs, but not of mucosal IgA antibodies needed to inhibit replication in the nasal epithelium.

In a study by Neeltje van Doremalen and coworkers, intranasal (IN) and IM administration of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine was compared in a hamster challenge model. Both administration routes protected hamsters against disease, while IN vaccination resulted in significantly less virus shedding compared to IM vaccination. IN vaccination of rhesus macaques also protected against disease and resulted in systemic immunity comparable to that of IM-vaccinated animals. In addition, IN vaccination elicited SARS-CoV-2-specific mucosal immunity and reduced virus shedding.

Reducing virus replication and interrupting the chain of transmission is important to limit the emergence of variants, against which the currently approved vaccines may be less effective. Emergence of antigenic drift variants may even be accelerated by imperfect vaccines. Currently approved vaccines should therefore be analyzed for their ability to prevent onward transmission, and vaccines that do so should be further developed. In this respect, it is worthwhile to further investigate IN administration of adenovirus-vectored vaccines in a clinical setting.

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