AUA members are equipped to adapt to the changes brought about by COVID-19. Each member possesses a distinct and valuable set of strengths which they are utilizing to advance research in several vital areas such as diagnosis and treatment, vaccine development and social and economic impact. The interdisciplinary skillsets and contributions of each member university are a necessary and important means to combat the disease and mitigate the impact across the Asian region and the world. Below are some highlights of the research achievements of AUA member universities thus far.
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[HKUST] HKUST's All-Round Efforts to help Fight COVID-19 Pandemic
[IITB] IITB Industrial Research & Consultancy Center
Various groups of researchers at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay have initiated projects both short term and long term, to work on areas for COVID-19 mitigation. Some of these have been funded internally to work towards seeking immediate solutions and / or proof of concept and some have already been funded by Government of India towards addressing COVID-19 related issues.
[NUS] The latest in the fight against COVID-19
[THU] Tsinghua University's COVID-19 Research
[UAEU]COVID-19 Research Newsletters
Prevention and Mitigation
[HKUST]HKUST Researchers Develop a Smart Fever Screening System Offering a More Efficient Solution to Safeguarding Public Health
Researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed a novel Smart Fever Screening System (SFSS), which could help officials at the border points to easily identify and distinguish passengers with fever. The system has been implemented at various control points, government facilities and the University in the fight against Covid-19.
[IITB] What influences coronaviruses' survival on different surfaces?
Researchers find how temperature, humidity and properties of different surfaces influence the evaporation rates of respiratory droplets infected with COVID-19.
[CU] Proteolytic Enzymes for Covid-19 Studied in 3D for the First Time in Thailand by Chula Biochemists
A team of biochemists from Chulalongkorn University became the first researchers in Thailand to study proteolytic enzymes for the Covid–19 virus at a molecular level in 3D, possibly leading to the development of Covid–19 treatments.
[CU] CU Engineering Grad Student Shares on the Development of Robots for Hospital Use During COVID-19 Outbreak
Since the first report of coronavirus cases in Thailand, medical professionals have been working around the clock to fight the global pandemic, often facing shortages of health care members. Technology and innovation took the front seat in aiding medical staff to work more efficiently, while keeping themselves safe from being infected with COVID-19.
[NU]Kazakhstanis can determine the probability of COVID-19 infection using a test
Nazarbayev University graduates have developed a "smart" test to estimate the probability of COVID-19 infection, which is now available for everyone to take at home.
[NUS]Automated blood oxygen monitoring system to boost COVID-19 fight
As part of the ongoing efforts to combat the coronavirus, Temasek Foundation brought together NUS, National University Hospital (NUH) and Singapore General Hospital (SGH) to develop an open-sourced system that wirelessly collects measurements of oxygen levels taken from Bluetooth-enabled pulse oximeters, and presents the data neatly on a dashboard.
[THU]THU research team finds powerful antibodies against COVID-19 virus
The team led by Prof. Zhang Linqi from Tsinghua University's School of Medicine and Prof. Zhang Zheng from Shenzhen Third People's Hospital have just reported their successful isolation of 206 monoclonal antibodies from 8 COVID-19 patients. Some of these antibodies demonstrated highly potent neutralizing activity against live COVID-19 virus. These antibodies represent promising candidates for clinical interventions against COVID-19 virus.
[THU]THU researchers develop a box of instant nucleic acid screening for COVID-19
Researchers from Tsinghua University have developed a Box of Instant Nucleic Acid Screening (BINAS) for COVID-19 diagnostics that may be suitably adapted for fast COVID-19 screening at population level, and provides low-cost testing which can be performed by almost anyone at home. The invention is a joint effort led by Prof. Bai Jingwei and Prof. Li Yinqing from the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Prof. Liu Peng from the School of Medicine.
[UoC]Faculty of Medicine student brings innovative portable CPR Machine
[UoC] Virtual Screening of Inhibitors Against Spike Glycoprotein of 2019 Novel Corona Virus: a Drug Repurposing Approach
A homology model of the receptor binding domain (RBD) of 2019-n CoV spike protein that is reasonably acceptable for drug screening was prepared using a high resolution crystal structure of SARS corona virus (SARS CoV) spike protein.
[UTokyo]Genetic study reveals similarities and differences of COVID-19 and SARS viruses
Researchers have identified specific portions of the genetic codes of the COVID-19 and SARS viruses that may promote the viruses' lifecycles. The new technique is researchers' first tool for determining what genetic sequences stored as RNA - DNA's chemical cousin - are more stable.
[UTokyo] Cats can infect other cats with virus that causes COVID-19
Three cats infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 spread the virus to three other cats in a lab study published in The New England Journal of Medicine by a research team working in Tokyo, Japan, and Wisconsin, USA.
[CU]Pfizer breakthrough boosts Thai project
[CU] GPO ready for industrial vaccine production
The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) has announced progress in the development of three Thai Covid-19 vaccines, with results expected by the end of 2020 and a plant in Saraburi standing ready to begin manufacturing the successful candidate. GPO director general Dr Witoon Danwiboon on Monday (June 1) revealed that his organisation was funding development of two types of vaccines against Covid-19 – a virus-like particle vaccine developed by the Siriraj Hospital's Faculty of Medicine, Mahidol University; and a sub-unit vaccine developed by the Faculty of Pharmacy, Chulalongkorn University.
[HKUST] COVIDep development
COVIDep is developed and maintained by the Signal Processing & Computational Biology Lab ( SPCB ) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). COVIDep aims to provide real-time potential vaccine targets for SARS-CoV-2. It screens the SARS-derived B cell and T cell epitopes (available atVIPR/IEDB) and identifies those which are highly conserved within the available SARS-CoV-2 sequences (continuing to be deposited atGISAID).
[THU]THU research team reveals the structural basis for the cell entry of the 2019 novel coronavirus
On March 30th 2020, a research paper entitled "Structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain bound to the ACE2 receptor" was published online in Nature as "Accelerated Article Preview" by the groups of Prof. Xinquan Wang at the School of Life Sciences and Prof. Linqi Zhang at the School of Medicine, Tsinghua University. This study reported the crystal structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) in complex with the human cell receptor ACE2 at a resolution of 2.45 angstrom. By precisely elucidating the interactions between RBD and ACE2, this study revealed the structural basis for the recognition of SARS-CoV-2 by ACE2 and provided important structural knowledge for the development of antibodies and vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.
[SNU] Information Technology–Based Tracing Strategy in Response to COVID-19 in South Korea—Privacy Controversies
South Korea extensively utilized the country's advanced information technology (IT) system for tracing individuals suspected to be infected or who had been in contact with an infected person. Such measures helped flatten the curve of newly confirmed cases and deaths around mid-March. As of April 21, 2020, there had been 10683 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Korea, with a total of 2233 patients who are in isolation because of hospitalization or quarantine, and a total of 237 deaths. However, important concerns have been raised over privacy involving the tracing strategy.
[UTokyo]UTokyo joins COVID-19 data exchange
The Data Co-Creation Working Group at the University of Tokyo has joined the COVID-19 Data Exchange pro bono initiative launched by leading data exchange technology firm Dawex. The aim is to provide researchers and public or private organizations who tackle COVID-19 and its consequences with a free, intuitive, globally connected information system to share and exchange data. The COVID-19 Data Exchange platform has recently gone live.
