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Harnessing genome editing for Covid-19 drug discovery

A plaque, or area of destroyed cells in a cell culture shows the presence of an active SARS-CoV-2 infection. (Image courtesy of Mike Norris) A University of Florida research team is harnessing the power of genomic editing to illuminate druggable targets in human cells for the fight against…

Needed: a national tick strategy

Findings from a first-ever nationwide survey of tick management methods reveal the most significant roadblocks to creating a uniform, national tick strategy.

Autopsies of Covid-19 Victims Reveal Blood Vessel Damage

A UF virologist assisted a team of medical researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City with interpreting microscopic images of tissue samples from COVID-19 victims. The researchers found extensive damage to small blood vessels, and they propose a mechanism linking vessel injury with biological pathways that lead to an immune system in overdrive.

EPI delivers: high capacity Covid-19 testing lab built in 10 days

Behind the scenes in mid-March, a group of researchers, students and lab technicians across campus came together and built a high throughput testing lab in the Emerging Pathogens Institute in just 10 days. “The timeline was so compressed, something like this would normally take at least a month,” says UF molecular biologist Tony Maurelli.

Cholera bacteria colonize Haitian rivers, evolve

UF researchers uncovered evidence that the bacteria which cause cholera, Vibrio cholerae, have established an aquatic reservoir in Haitian waterways where they are now adapting and evolving. This marks the first time the pathogenic bacteria are known to have a reservoir outside of the Bay of Bengal, which is traditionally viewed as their home.

Expert: outbreak transmission dynamics

Researchers who study outbreak transmission dynamics can offer insight to the spread and containment of COVID-19 based on past emerging coronaviruses. UF biology professor Derek Cummings has investigated outbreak dynamics of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in 2002, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) which emerged in 2012.

Coronavirus consultant

UF research professor John Lednicky can pull live viruses out of thin air—and grow them. His past decades of inquiry into coronaviruses have positioned him as one of UF’s go-to experts on the newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 pathogen that is spreading globally.

Chlamydia’s covert reproduction

UF researchers have resolved a two-decade old mystery centered upon how the bacteria Chlamydia divide and reproduce. Newly published results from the lab of Anthony Maurelli, a microbiologist in UF’s College of Public Health and Health Professions and the EPI, reveal that how these parasitic pathogens replicate diverges from a nearly universal norm.