COVID-19 Fast Grant recipients
The list below is updated regularly with additional recipients. As of May 1st, 105 awards have been made. Not all recipients are currently listed below.
Dr. Laura Esserman UCSF
For the ‘I-SPY for COVID-19’ Platform Trial to Reduce Mortality and Ventilator requirements for critically ill patient in collaboration with Dr. Carolyn Calfee and Dr. Kathleen Liu.
Dr. Nevan Krogan UCSF
For identifying SARS-CoV-2-Human Protein-Protein Interactions and evaluating them as potential therapeutic targets.
Dr. Mark R. Looney UCSF
To explore the pathogenic role of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in COVID-19 by testing a strategy to dismantle NETs using a novel therapeutic to ameliorate acute lung injury.
Dr. Keith Mostov UCSF
To develop recombinant secretory immunoglobulin A antibodies to the SARS CoV-2 virus and use them to provide passive protection against infection.
Dr. Matthew Spitzer UCSF
For discerning immune cell signaling states associated with disease escalation in COVID-19 based on prospective patient samples in order to identify therapeutic targets to modulate inflammation in COVID-19 patients
Dr. Arthur Wallace UCSF and San Francisco VA Medical Center
To investigate ACE-I, ARB and type 5 PDE-I drugs in the context of ARDS and microvascular dysfunction in Covid-19 patients.
Addgene
For continuing to share critical reagents with researchers at minimal cost during the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr. Patricia Aguilar University of Texas
For modeling age-dependent susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection in 3D human lung organoids.
Dr. Wataru Akahata Kyoto University
For the development of a Covid-19 vaccine specificially targeted to the receptor-binding domain of the viral S protein using expertise gained during successful development of anti-malaria and anti-chikungunya vaccines.
Dr. James Antaki Cornell University
For the collaborative effort with Accel Diagnostics to develop a point of care serological test for rapid quantification of antibody titer to monitor disease progression and strength of immune response.
Dr. Susan Athey Stanford University
For retrospective analyses designed to assess the benefit of off-label drug use, in order to help prioritize and guide subsequent randomized clinical trials.
Dr. Michael Barry Mayo Clinic
For the development of a single-cycle adenovirus vaccine and viral decoy against SARS-CoV-2.
Dr. Mark Bathe MIT
For a collaborative effort with the Lingwood and Schmidt labs combining vaccine immunology and nanotechnology expertise to rapidly test and characterize COVID-19 vaccine candidates in high-throughput.
Dr. John Bell Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
To create multiple vaccines for COVID-19 using novel strategies for delivering coronavirus proteins directly to the critical cells required to generate an effective immune response.
Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi Stanford University For a collaboration of Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi, Dr. Catherine Blish and Dr. Marie Hollenhorst to identify minimally invasive predictive biomarkers for Covid-19 disease progression to improve scarce resource allocation.
Dr. Lbachir BenMohamed UC Irvine
For the development of an asymptomatic multi-epitope COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Catherine Blish Stanford University
To determine best practices for N95 mask decontamination that will sufficiently inactivate virus and allow mask reuse in a clinical setting
Dr. Jeff Biernaskie University of Calgary
To study the immune basis of COVID-19 related acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDs) via longitudinal study of patients undergoing placebo and convalescent plasma treatment in order to inform evidence-based repurposing of targeted immunotherapies to improve outcomes for critically-ill patients affected by COVID-19.
Dr. Jim Boonyaratanakornkit Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
To probe the human B cell repertoire for SARS-CoV-2-protective B cells from pre- immune individuals in order to guide vaccine and monoclonal antibody design against COVID-19.
Dr. Gillian Booth University of Toronto
To accelerate the CONNECT study (COVID-19 and diabetes: Clinical Outcomes and Navigated NEtwork Care Today) to define the relationship between diabetes and adverse COVID-19 outcomes and improve care for individuals with diabetes.
Dr. Stephen Brohawn UC Berkeley
To develop novel COVID-19 therapeutics that target coronavirus ion channels in collaboration with the Bautista and Adesnik labs.
Dr. J. Brian Byrd University of Michigan Medical School
To support a randomized, controlled clinical trial testing whether continuation, or discontinuation of two common types of blood pressure medication leads to better outcomes in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Dr. Ann Chahroudi Emory University School of Medicine
To investigate cross-reactive, cross-neutralizing, and antibody-dependent enhancing (ADE) antibodies of circulating endemic coronaviruses.
Dr. Amy Chung University of Melbourne
To accelerate the characterization of antibodies from COVID19 patients that are associated with rapid recovery compared to severe disease; and to identify potent monoclonal antibodies capable of inhibiting the virus, which will be prioritized for therapeutic development
Dr. Susan Daniel Cornell University
To investigate the impact of FDA-approved calcium-modulating drugs on lessening COVID infection, based on their work identifying a role for calcium ions in virus entry.
Dr. Brandon J. DeKosky The University of Kansas
For high-throughput screening of antibody responses in COVID-19 patients for therapeutic discovery and to accelerate vaccine design.
Dr. Shokrollah Elahi University of Alberta
Understanding the immune correlates of protection in infected individuals with a mild form of COVID-19 versus those with the severe form of the disease is essential for therapeutic interventions or vaccine design.
Dr. John Eikelboom McMaster University
For the ACT program design using innovative and adaptive methodology to find a safe, effective treatment to slow the progression of COVID-19 across 80 sites in 8 countries over 6 months.
Dr. Barbara Engelhardt Princeton University
For creating a national database of COVID+ patient data and studying it to gain a better understanding of disease trajectory, improved hospital resource allocation and the acceleration of clinical trials.
Dr. Tracy Fisher Tulane University To investigate the pathogenesis of COVID-19 in the development of a relevant animal model in order to advance our understanding of the disease process and for safe and efficacious therapeutic and vaccine development.
Dr. Steven Marc Friedman University Health Network, University of Toronto
For a comparative study to validate saliva as a test for SARS-CoV-2, as an alternative to nasopharyngeal swab testing and its associated problems, including depletion of swabs and personal protective equipment, and risk of nosocomial infection from close proximity of health care worker and patient being tested
Dr. Judith Frydman Stanford University
For using their combined expertise in virology and in multisubunit protein production to engineer virus-like particles (VLPs), which will allow for rapid testing of the neutralization capacity of recovered patient sera (in collaboration with the Blish lab) or designed antibodies targeting the S protein (in collaboration with the Wells lab).
Dr. Patrick Giguère University of Ottawa
For the discovery of CoV-2 particle entry in absence of ACE2 and genome-wide gain-of- function screening to identify new secondary receptors/co-receptors/auxiliary proteins that facilitate viral entry/fusion.
Dr. Douglas Goetz Ohio University
To determine the potential of GSK-3 inhibitors to diminish the cytokine storm associated with COVID-19.
Dr. Ewan Goligher University Health Network and University of Manitoba
To support the Antithrombotic Therapy to Ameliorate Complications of COVID-19 (ATTACC) trial. This international, multicenter, adaptive, open-label randomized clinical trial will examine the impact of therapeutic anticoagulation in comparison to standard venous thromboprophylaxis on the risk of intubation and death in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
Dr. Brigitte Gomperts UCLA
For using a 3D human lung organoid model that is infected with SARS-CoV-2 to screen for new therapies to treat COVID19 and reduce lung injury.
Dr. Nathan Grubaugh Yale School of Public Health
For developing new testing strategies and utilizing virus genomic sequencing to support data-driven decision making.
Dr. Jeremy Hirota McMaster University
To correlate host transcriptome profile from clinical nasal swabs from positive and negative COVID-19 cases with clinical outcomes
Dr. Shirley Hsin-Ju Mei Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
For the TURQUOISE Ottawa COVID-19 study profiling immune responses of COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), with a focus on the potential immunomodulatory function of mesenchymal stem cells.
Dr. Eva Harris UC Berkeley
To perform a randomized, representative, community-based, longitudinal study of short and long-term spread, asymptomatic infection rates, disease risk modifying factors and effects of non-pharmacological interventions for COVID-19 in the Bay Area.
Dr. Patrick Hsu UC Berkeley
For the discovery of diagnostic and actionable biomarkers of COVID-19.
Dr. Akiko Iwasaki Yale University
To elucidate the single cell transcriptional profiles of infected tissues from COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Smita Iyer UC Davis
To investigate convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19 in a rhesus model.
Dr. Peter K. Jackson Stanford University School of Medicine
For elucidating a newly discovered mechanism by which the SARS-CoV-2 virus binds to its receptor(s) on trachea and nasal epithelium and defining a new drug target to block viral uptake and spread. Dr. Jingyue Ju Columbia University
To rapidly research and develop nucleotide analogues that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 polymerase as therapeutics for COVID-19.
Dr. Naftali Kaminski Yale University
To perform a clinical trial assessing the efficacy of sobetirome in reducing the requirements for mechanical ventilation and mortality of moderate to severe hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Kevin Kain University Health Network
For a three-month multi-site randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study to assess safety and efficacy of hydroxy-chloroquine (HCQ) Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in the prevention of COVID-19 infections in high-risk Health Care Workers.
Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka Influenza Research Institute, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin- Madison
Development of Syrian Hamsters as a Covid-19 model to test the Protective Efficacy of a Whole-Inactivated Vaccine.
Dr. Michael Kay University of Utah
To discover and characterize novel D-peptide viral entry inhibitors as drug candidates to prevent and treat COVID-19.
Dr. Ronald Levy Stanford University
To generate a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 using a novel polymer for mRNA protection.
Dr. Michael Lin Stanford University
For developing a live-cell test for the activity of a key protein from SARS-CoV-2, the COVID-19 virus, and testing of a set of existing drugs for ability to disrupt this protein’s function.
Dr. Jonathon Maguire University of Toronto
For the COVID-19 Study of Children and Families, a longitudinal observational study to evaluate the key epidemiological characteristics and spectrum of disease severity of COVID-19 among parents and children.
Dr. Rajeev Malhotra Massachusetts General Hospital
To identify novel risk factors that determine which COVID-19 patients are at highest risk (e.g., those needing ICU care or to be on a ventilator) or who develop cardiac injury, with a particular focus on baseline vascular abnormalities.
Dr. Amanda J. Martinot Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
For comparison of pre-clinical animal models for vaccine and therapeutic development and the basic immunology and virulence determinants underlying host-pathogen interactions.
Dr. Grant McFadden Arizona State University
To develop a live intranasal COVID-19 vaccine to generate both humoral (especially respiratory mucosal) and cellular acquired immune responses against SARS-CoV-2, based on a recombinant version of an attenuated nonhuman poxvirus called myxoma virus that has been engineered to co-express the four SARS-CoV-2 proteins (S, N, M and E) needed to produce secreted non-infectious virus-like particles that antigenically mimic the complete SARS CoV-2 virus.
Dr. Allison McGeer Sinai Health System
To test whether exististing antivirals can be used to control outbreaks of COVID-19 in nursing homes.
Dr. Roman Melnyk University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children
For high-throughput screening of repurposed FDA-approved drugs for their efficacy to prevent SARS-CoV2 entry by modifying endosomal pH and testing in preclinical hamster and ferret models of Covid-19 in collaboration with the Kozak and Falzarano labs.
Dr. Miriam Merad Mount Sinai Medical Center
To comprehensively characterize the immunological response to SARS-CoV-2 and identify the factors that control the severity of COVID-19 disease based on a comprehensive and longitudinal COVID-19 BioBank of Mount Sinai’s very large COVID- 19 patient population.
Dr. Edward Mills McMaster University
To summarize rapidly emerging clinical research evidence and generate comparative efficacy and safety profiles for candidate interventions.
Dr. Anders Näär UC Berkeley
To develop anti-viral COVID-19 therapeutics based on direct targeting of the viral RNA genome using LNA anti-sense oligonucleotides.
Dr. Mihai Netea Radboud University Medical Center
To support a randomized clinical trial to investigate whether vaccination with BCG is able to decrease the incidence and severity of COVID-19 infection in elderly individuals.
Dr. Daniel Nomura UC Berkeley
For a collaborative effort of the Nomura, Murthy, Cate, Schaletzky, and Stanley labs to develop small molecule Covid-19 antivirals drugs.
Center for Open Science
To accelerate COVID-19 research by improving transparency of related registrations, data, materials, and preprints on the Open Science Framework (OSF.io) for discovery and consumption by researchers and other services.
Dr. Elizabeth L. Ogburn Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
For developing the COVID Collaboration Platform to bring disparate research teams working on the same clinical research questions together to share protocols, data, and evidence. Outside of a few centrally organized trials, most COVID-19 randomized clinical trials are small and/or redundant—and it's only by aggregating evidence across these trials that we will learn how to best treat COVID-19.
Dr. Chul Park University of Toronto
To cost-effectively modify N95 grade (and non-N95 grade) mask surfaces from hydrophilic (to which respiratory aerosols/droplets adhere) to hydrophobic (repelling respiratory aerosols/droplets), to increase their lifespan.
Dr. Jerry Pelletier McGill University
To identify the most potent compound from a class of rocaglates for activity against SARS-CoV-2. Our previous work has shown that these compounds are effective against the non-pathogenic coronavirus 229E strain.
Dr. Bradley Pentelute MIT
To develop safe and effective peptides for prophylactic treatment and rapid early therapeutic intervention against COVID-19 infection.
Dr. Nikolai Petrovsky Flinders University
For a phase 1 clinical trial to test the efficacy of a recombinant protein-based Sars-CoV vaccine with Advax-SM adjuvant, based on expertise gained during SARS-CoV vaccine development.
Dr. Dylan Pillai University of Calgary
To further develop a clinically validated COVID diagnostic point-of-care test.
Dr. Hidde Ploegh Harvard University
To pursue targeted delivery of Covid-19 coronavirus antigens to antigen presenting cells in the form of nanobody-antigen adducts in the presence of approved adjuvants to elicit protective B- and T-cell (inluding CD8) responses as a possible vaccine strategy.
Dr. Angela Rasmussen Columbia University
For the longitudinal study of COVID-19 progression in non-human primate models to identify potential disease-modifying pathways.
Dr. Brian Raught University Health Network
To use two cutting-edge screening technologies to identify new drug targets for the treatment of COVID-19, and the identification of FDA-approved drugs with activity against SARS-CoV-2.
Dr. Jeffrey Ravetch The Rockefeller University
To develop human ACE2 transgenic mice in strains that express all classes of human FcγRs to study the mechanisms of antibody-mediated protection against Covid-19 infection.
Dr. Davide F. Robbiani The Rockefeller University
To rapidly identify a human monoclonal antibody that potently neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 and that is suitable for clinical development for prevention and treatment of COVID-19 based on convalescent serum screening.
Dr. Erica Ollmann Saphire La Jolla Institute for Immunology
To scale up protein production in order to compare and advance antibody therapeutics against COVID-19 around the world through our international consortium.
Dr. Ansuman Satpathy Stanford University
To identify the cellular and molecular basis for durable immunity to SARS-CoV-2, with a focus on the identification of T cell receptor and antibody sequences that are shared among virus controllers and the identification of immune dysfunction in COVID-19 that could be treated with existing FDA-approved drugs.
Dr. Jacqueline Saw Vancouver General Hospital
For evaluating the use of cardiac CT angiography (CCTA) to study myocardial injury in COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Julia Schaletzky UC Berkeley
Dr. Julia Schaletzky, Prof. Sarah Stanley and their team at the UCB Drug Discovery center work on a repurposing approach, discovering if compounds with existing safety data in humans can be used to combat COVID-19 infection.
Dr. Katherine Seley-Radtke University of Maryland
The Seley-Radtke group has developed a series of flexible nucleoside analogues ("fleximers") that have exhibited potent activity against epidemic (i.e. SARS and MERS), and endemic (i.e., NL63) human coronaviruses (CoVs). The Fast Grant will help advance our synthetic efforts as well as to fastrack our preclinical animal studies against SARS-CoV-2 and CoVID-19.
Dr. Sachdev Sidhu University of Toronto
For the discovery of human antibodies blocking ACE2 binding by the viral S protein through screening of libraries of billions of human antibodies and their further validation to move them towards clinical trials as an antiviral drug to fight COVID-19 directly.
Dr. Erec Stebbins German Cancer Research Center
To create a COVID-19 vaccine through a novel immunotherapeutic platform.
Dr. Alice Ting Stanford University
For the development of non-PCR point-of-care tests for COVID-19 infection, based on engineered peroxidase reporters.
Dr. Alain Townsend Oxford University
To characterize monoclonal antibodies to Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 from convalescent human donors for their binding, neutralization and structural properties.
Dr. Bert Vogelstein Johns Hopkins University
Clinical trials to determine whether prazosin, a drug already widely used for common medical conditions, can prevent cytokine storms and severe disease in COVID-19 patients when given early after infection.
Dr. Tania Watts University of Toronto
To investigate the the diversity and longevity of T cell immunity to SARS-COV2 through longitudinal study of Covid-19 patients.
Dr. Paul Yager University of Washington
For developing an isothermal point of care diagnostic test to detect Sars-CoV2.
Dr. Michael Yin Columbia University
To investigate the relationship between systemic exposure to hydroxychloroquine and therapeutic efficacy as well as side effects in COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Qian Zhang The Rockefeller University
For the global COVID Human Genetic Effort, to search for monogenic etiologies for rare individuals naturally resistant to SARS-CoV-2 infections, as well as young and previously healthy individuals who suffered from life-threatening COVID-19.