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Last week, we began a tour of our May issue, which we’re not printing. First, we offered member news: awards, scholarships, new jobs, etc. Then science news: new research in @ASBMB journals and beyond. Below is the final installment, and it’s about our #COVID__19 coverage.
Background: See previous threads here: https://twitter.com/ASBMB/status/1263860356633550849. And see PDF of the issue here: https://www.asbmb.org/Asbmb.Web/media/files/atoday/ASBMBToday-2020-05.pdf.
First, here’s @cdorn56’s editor’s note about this special collection of #COVID__19 coverage. https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/opinions/051520/breaking-the-news
She explains: “Here we have collected the best of the #COVID__19 writing that we’ve posted on our website since February. We tried to update articles wherever possible, but the story is evolving quickly."
. @cdorn56 continues: "This is a snapshot, from the viewpoint of this magazine and this society, of a moment that comes once in a century.” https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/opinions/051520/breaking-the-news #COVID
In this piece by @ArnstJohh, we learn about an eight-institution endeavor to use a protein-interaction map to identify 69 drugs that might work against the virus that causes #COVID__19. https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/science/040120/a-small-army-of-researchers-races-to-build-a-coron
A lot of new information has emerged since @ArnstJohn wrote about a three-page paper on #hydroxychloroquine and #remdesivir back in February. https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/science/020620/could-an-old-malaria-drug-help-fight-the-new-coron
The president tweeted about and talked up the potential of #hydroxychloroquine, spurring people to use it as a preventative, which created a shortage for lupus patients and others who really need it. In trials, it has caused worse outcomes for #COVID__19 patients.
#Remdesivir, meanwhile, has been shown to be modestly useful in reducing recovery times in #COVID-19 patients. Which brings us to two stories by @LaurelOld.
Here, in this interactive article, @LaurelOld breaks down the chemistry of the potential antiviral #remdesivir: https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/science/031720/what-makes-remdesivir-a-promising-antiviral
And here is a feature by @LaurelOld that covers how #remdesivir came to be and how it and other drugs in the same family might be used against coronaviruses. https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/science/041020/slipping-past-the-proofreader #COVID__19
In this piece by @LaurelOld, we learn about a group of graduate students and postdocs who created a database to connect volunteers with local health departments. https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/people/040620/using-community-organizing-skills-to-mobilize-scie
Entire labs are pivoting their research to study #COVID__19 and help with the national response to it. Here, @LaurelOld writes about genomics labs that have switched gears. https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/science/033020/researchers-retool-genomics-labs-to-provide-covid
At the University of Washington, scientists volunteered to help keep diagnostic labs running during Seattle’s #COVID__19 outbreak. https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/science/031820/deserted-department
Here, @ASBMB member @lovett_r, a college senior studying chemistry, writes about how his job as a medical technician in a hospital ER has changed during the #COVID__19 pandemic. https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/opinions/041620/on-the-front-line-pandemic-insight-from-a-health-c
(Almost) alone in a new city: When @e_stivison moved from NYC to Nashville with her dog, Milo, she was greeted by a tornado and then things got worse. https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/opinions/040920/a-new-city-a-new-job-and-a-global-pandemic
Finally, we asked @ASBMB members to share their thoughts during this difficult time. The first to respond was Maurizio Crestani. A researcher in Italy, he experienced the #COVID-19 lockdown before we here in the U.S. did. Here, he updates his reflections.
He writes: “I am not an economist, but I am sure that one recipe to help fight the economic crisis and loss of jobs around the world could be investing in fundamental research.” https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/opinions/051420/is-more-science-the-medicine-we-need-to-cure-the-w
That wraps up our #COVID__19 coverage featured in the May issue of @ASBMB Today. We want to take this moment to thank all of you who contributed.
Also, for those of you who, like us, are interested in the biochemistry of the virus that causes #COVID__19 and want to learn more about potential treatments, we have a special Twitter chat tomorrow at 2 p.m. Eastern.
We'll have both scientists and our science writers, @LaurelOld and @ArnstJohn, on our panel. And we're taking questions in advance. So, if there's something you want to ask about any of the stories above or anything else related to #COVID__19, please reply to this thread.
