Given the unprecedented suspension of all non-essential research due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Innovation Fund Provincial Oversight Committee (IFPOC) gave SEAMO the opportunity to both repurpose 2019 Innovation Fund monies and fast track the 2020 competition in support of COVID-19 research.
SEAMO issued a call for proposals on April 6, 2020 and, by the April 15, 2020 deadline, we had received thirty-seven (37) applications spanning 12 departments and 20 specialties. The total value of the applications was approximately $4.2 million. Steven Smith, Vice-Dean Research, Queen’s Faculty of Heath Sciences, was impressed with the depth, breadth and quality of the applications, given the very short timeline for submissions. Unfortunately, with a limited budget of $670K, SEAMO is only able to fund six (6) projects.
Below you’ll find a list of the researchers and their COVID-19 initiatives. Each project strives to better understand the virus while developing innovative solutions to combat COVID-19. Stay tuned for more about each of these innovative projects.
Stephen Archer - Synthesis and preclinical testing of novel small molecule therapies for COVID-19
Paula James - COVID-19 Coagulopathy: Understanding and Treating a Novel Entity
David Maslove and Michael Rauh- COVID-19 and the Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care (GenOMICC)
Robert Siemens - Role of BCG-induced innate immune memory in the protection against coronavirus
Martin ten Hove - Coronavirus infection of the ocular mucosa to model infection and systemic immunity
Stephen Vanner - The application of metabolomics to enhance detection of COVID-19 and predict disease severity: A proof-of-principle study