A hallmark of COVID-19 is the impairment of respiratory function. However, a fourteenth project will assess the cognitive impact of COVID-19. Funded by Center for Innovation in Brain Science, Dr. Lee Ryan of the College of Science and Dr. Meredith Hay of the College of Medicine are utilizing an existing database of over 50,000 individuals to understand brain-related impacts of the infection.

In addition to traveling through droplets in the air generated by a sneeze or cough, the novel coronavirus passes through the feces of infected individuals. These live viruses can become airborne in wastewater treatment plants, posing a threat to facility workers. A team of four researchers at the UArizona Water and Energy Sustainable Technology Center – environmental science assistant research professors Drs. Luisa Ikner and Walter Betancourt, public health professor Dr. Kelly Reynolds and environmental science professor Dr. Ian Pepper – are working with Jeff Prevatt, deputy director of the Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department, to study the risk of the airborne virus to facility worker health.

In addition to creating COVID-19 databases, UArizona researchers will address public health concerns by exploring relationships between COVID-19, pre-existing health conditions and the environment. Older adults and those with existing critical health conditions seem to be at greater risk for COVID-19. Dr. Janko Nikolich-Žugich, head of the Department of Immunology, and associate professor Dr. Deepta Bhattacharya are teaming up with Dr. Craig Weinkauf, assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, to find out why.

As of April 2020, only one viral genome had been recorded for Arizona COVID-19 cases. Drs. Michael Worobey and David Baltrus are working to add nearly 40 more genomes to GenBank, a repository curated by the National Institutes of Health. In addition to contributing data, the team is understanding the relationship of the Arizona outbreak to the national epidemic. By comparing viral genomes across the country, the group hopes to determine origin of COVID-19 in Southern Arizona and the number of transmission chains in the area.

Because our understanding of COVID-19 is limited to emerging, highly variable case reports, an interdisciplinary team will produce a database with information on hospitalized COVID-19 patients in our state. Dr. Vignesh Subbian, assistant professor in the College of Engineering, and Dr. Jarrod Moiser of COM-T are compiling patient characteristics and documenting the safety of their care. Through their efforts, they aim to catalog the clinical characteristics and courses of seriously ill COVID-19 patients in Arizona to better understand the relationship of the Arizona outbreak to the national epidemic.

Drs. Kristen Pogreba-Brown and Kate Ellingson, both assistant professors of public health, public health professor Dr. Elizabeth Jacobs, public health associate professor Dr. Kacey Ernst and Dr. Pamela Garcia-Filion, associate research scientist in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, are creating a database to better understand the short- and long-term impacts of COVID-19 in our area. Produced from patient interviews, the database will provide a catalog of acute risk factors and patient symptoms that can be used by all Arizona investigators addressing COVID-19. They are also initiating a long-term study to generate a database that can be used by all Arizona investigators addressing COVID-19.

Some researchers as tackling the COVID-19 pandemic through epidemiological and public health approaches. A team representing medicine, pharmacy and public health are using patient data from Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and area family medicine clinics to create a local COVID-19 database. The team includes Dr. Karen Lutrick, assistant professor in the College of Medicine – Tucson; Dr. Dean Billheimer, professor of public health; and Dr. Brian Erstad, professor of pharmacy. The team hopes this database will provide a useful tool for future COVID-19 UArizona research efforts.

Because clinical studies of anti-malarial drugs have provided uncertain evidence regarding their utility in treating COVID-19, a College of Pharmacy team is testing novel inhibitors in treating existing infections. Drs. Wei Wang, Steffan Nawrocki and Jennifer Carew will use the anti-malarial drugs as the foundation for designing similar, yet distinct compounds. By doing so, these experts in drug discovery and viral biology aim to identify new compounds which may prove to be safer and more efficacious.

Directly targeting the virus is just one strategy researchers can use to treat COVID-19. Because of the severe gap in knowledge regarding the novel coronavirus, some researchers propose that developing a virus-targeted approach may not be quickly achievable. Dr. Jianqin Lu, assistant professor of pharmacy, is working with Dr. Yin Chen, associate professor, to investigate whether immune system activation can treat COVID-19.