Preparing for a pandemic was a key reason for creating the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity. Now that it’s here, MI4 is “taking full advantage of our large community of over 250 researchers to tackle this pandemic,” says Dr. Don Sheppard, MI4’s director and the Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill’s Faculty of Medicine.
Thanks to the support of donors, MI4’s Emergency COVID-19 Research Fund has already funded 16 research proposals for immediate launch. They include looking at new testing techniques and algorithms to “to reduce the isolation of health care workers who are exposed [to COVID19] in the course of their work,” Sheppard says. “Instead of keeping them home for 14 days, hopefully get them back to work at Day 7 and 9, if they’re not going to develop disease.”
A new round of MI4-funded projects is due to be announced soon.
Watch Dr. Sheppard explain the MI4-supported COVID-19 research underway at McGill.