COVID-19 Virtual Symposium #19

Today was the nineteenth Columbia COVID-19 Virtual Symposium.

Presentation Summaries and Video Recordings

Written summaries were kindly provided by the Presenters or the Columbia Researchers Against COVID-19 (CRAC) Team.

If you are having trouble viewing the embedded videos, try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, visit the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center's YouTube page. 

Katherine Fischkoff, MD, MPA, Assistant Professor of Surgery and Critical Care Department of Medicine & Lydia Dugdale, MD, MAR,  Dorothy L. and Daniel H. Silberberg Associate Professor of Medicine Director, Columbia Center for Clinical Medical Ethics Associate Director of Clinical Ethics, NYP Columbia University Medical Center

Title: Clinical Ethics Consultations During the COVID-19 Pandemic at a New York City Medical Center

Summary: Dr. Fischkoff and Dr. Dugdale in their talk shared some insights from the ethics department of NYP. The number of ethics consults raised from 25 in 2020 to already 96 in 2020. 83% of these were COVID related with about 77% of hospitalized patients being COVID related. While in 2019 about half of the consultations were EOL related, 2020 about 85% were. They conclude with some lessons to be learned, like the general capability of NYP to respond to such extreme situations while some processes still could be improved and would benefit from legal backing.

Beata Turonova, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Laboratory of Dr. Martin Beck Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt & Mateusz Sikora, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow Laboratory of Dr. Gerhard Hummer Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt

Title: In situ structural analysis of SARS-CoV-2 spike reveals flexibility mediated by three hinges

Summary: Dr. Turonova and Dr. Sikora presented their findings of their research on the SARS-CoV-2 S-protein. By employing the method of cryo-electron tomography and taking multiple samples of the virion from different angles they were able to analyze the full 3D structure of the S-protein and not only the surface head. In addition to finding two different virus configurations, a closed and an open one, as well as identify three joints in the protein which give it flexibility instead of the thought rigid structure.

Cornelia Bergmann, PhD, Professor of Molecular Medicine Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine Lerner Research Institute/CCF

Title: Murine CoV CNS infection: Exploring B recruitment and local immunity

Summary: Dr. Bergman gave a very extensive presentation on the B-cell mechanism and their germical center formation of SARS virus infections. She reminded the audience that all human viruses causing lung infections are known to be linked to neurological symptoms so that this is not something specific for SARS-CoV-2.

Kyeong-Ok Chang, DVM, MS, PhD, Professor College of Veterinary Medicine Kansas State University

Title: Development of Small Molecule Inhibitors Against 3C-Like Protease of SARS-CoV-2

Summary: In his detailed talk, Dr. Chang presented the status of the ongoing research on 3C or 3C like protease inhibitors. He presented different compound groups and their effectiveness for inhibition.

Ami Patel, PhD, Research Assistant Professor Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center The Wistar Institute

Title: Preclinical development of a DNA vaccine targeting SARS-CoV-2

Summary: In the global race to find a successful SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, it is important to develop vaccines across different platforms. While DNA vaccine platforms promise rapid production timelines and are considered “next generation” vaccine technology, they have not yet been approved in the US for human use. Dr. Patel’s research group at the Wistar Institute works on intramuscular (IM) and intradermal (ID) DNA injections paired with electroporation, and is involved in a Phase I study for a SARS-CoV-2 DNA vaccine in collaboration with CEPI and Inovio. Some of their recent research found robust cellular and humoral immune responses measured after a single dose of their synthetic DNA-based vaccine candidate INO-4800 in mice and guinea pigs (the paper in Nature Communications can be found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16505-0). Their follow up study in rhesus monkeys, which is currently in submission, also showed that a single dose of INO-4800 led to robust cellular and humoral immune responses and protected against challenge (post final immunization). 

Daniel Lucey, MD, MPH, Senior Scholar O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law Georgetown University Law Center Adjunct Professor of Medicine-Infectious Diseases Georgetown University Medical Center

Title: COVID Vaccine Trials on 6 Continents

Summary: There are currently 34 COVID-19 vaccines in clinical trials across the six continents, and nine of them have reached Phase III. In this talk, Dr. Lucey gives short summaries of each Phase III trial. The University of Oxford/AstraZeneca (UK-Sweden) trial has tens of thousands of volunteers in the UK, India, Brazil, South Africa and the US, and is continuing after a temporary pause on September 8. Moderna (US) in partnership with National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Pfizer (US) in partnership with BioNTech (Germany) and FosunPharma (China) are developing RNA based vaccine platforms. Three trials are using adenovirus (non replicating viral vector) platforms: the CanSino Biological Inc./Beijing Institute of Biotechnology trial is occurring entirely in Pakistan, the Gamaleya Research Institute trial has enrolled 40,000 volunteers in Russia, and the Johnson & Johnson (US) trial has entered Phase III but has not yet begun enrollment. Finally, the Sinovac (China) trials as well as two distinct Sinopharm (China) trials are based on inactivated vaccine candidates and are happening in Brazil, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates.  

A non-technical summary of the vaccine trials across all phases can be found on the NYT website: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has a more technical vaccine tracker here: https://vac-lshtm.shinyapps.io/ncov_vaccine_landscape/