Science of COVID-19: "Deployment of convalescent plasma against COVID-19"
This week's speaker is Arturo Casadevall of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
This presentation will first review the storied history of passive antibody therapy for infectious diseases in the early 20th century, which catalyzed much of the foundational research in immunology. Based on those experiences, a group of scientists and physicians mobilized to deploy convalescent plasma against COVID-19 in the spring of 2020. Today, convalescent plasma has been administered to more than 70,000 patients in the US and the preliminary analysis shows that it is safe and that it is associated with reduced mortality. This clinical experience in turn suggests new scientific problems for study and could catalyze the return of antibody therapies for infectious diseases.
Dr. Casadevall is a Professor of Medicine and the Chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is a globally known expert in humoral immunity, molecular biology, virulence and cryptococcosis. His lab studies how microbes cause disease and how hosts, such as humans, protect themselves against microbes.
Organized by Janelia's Sarada Viswanathan and Loren Looger, the Science of COVID-19 seminar series brings in outside experts, covers papers and preprints, and highlights local efforts in testing, production, and analysis.
LEARN MORE: janelia.org/scienceofcovid19
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