Spring 2024 CIC Webinar Recap

The twenty-ninth session of the COVID Information Commons (CIC) webinar series was held on June 11, 2024. In this forum, leading COVID-19 scientists presented their current research on the global pandemic.

Event moderators included Florence Hudson, Executive Director of the Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub at Columbia University and COVID Information Commons Principal Investigator (PI), Lauren Close, Operations & Communications Manager, and Emily Rothenberg, National Student Data Corps (NSDC) Program Manager.

The researchers presented various topics, including researcher collaboration, wastewater-based epidemiology, and using aptamers as tools to mitigate the potential emergence of SARS-CoV-3. Each touched on broader themes related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The session began with a presentation by Florence Hudson from Columbia University. Hudson discussed the CIC-E: COVID Information Commons Extension for Pandemic Recovery. This project was funded by the NSF.

The COVID Information Commons was launched in July 2020 as an open portal for research and resources to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic and its longstanding impacts. The CIC is an open website to facilitate knowledge-sharing and collaboration across various COVID research efforts. Through June 30, 2024, the CIC Community has grown to include 4,193 individuals in 861 organizations across the U.S. and 39 other countries. As of July 2024, the COVID Awards & Researcher Database includes metadata for over 13,000 COVID-related NSF and NIH awards and research projects, which  continues to be an important resource for ongoing pandemic-related research. Hudson also announced a forthcoming publication with Springer Nature, planned for early 2025. Former CIC Research Lightning Talks presenters are invited to contribute chapters on their research to this publication on COVID-19’s impacts and recommendations for mitigating future pandemics.

A video of Florence's presentation can be found on the CIC website.

Next, Helena Solo-Gabriele from the University of Miami presented her research on Wastewater Based Epidemiology Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic: Opportunities and Next Steps. This project was funded by the NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse (RADx Radical Program, RADxUP Program) and 4Catalyzer.

Dr. Solo-Gabriele presented updates and opportunities for her research on Wastewater-Based Monitoring of COVID-19. Along with a team of researchers at the University of Miami and Weill Cornell Medicine, their study predicted disease outbreaks and hospitalizations based on wastewater sampling. Moving forward, their study aims to develop data standardization and informatics infrastructure that integrates human and wastewater surveillance data to characterize and predict disease outbreaks beyond COVID-19, informing policy decisions.

A video of Helena’s presentation can be found on the CIC website.

Finally, Xiaohong Tan from Bowling Green State University presented his research on SARS-CoV-3. This project was funded by the NSF Division of Chemistry. 

Tan discussed the potential of using aptamers as tools in preparation for the potential emergence of SARS-CoV-3 in the future. In his lab, he and his team designed DNA-based aptamers, also called chemical antibodies. These single-stranded oligonucleotides can fold into complex 3D structures, enabling them to bind through non-covalent interactions to a large variety of targets such as proteins, nucleic acids, small molecules, or cells. These aptamers can inhibit spike protein interactions and may be useful and cost-effective tools for future SARS-CoV pandemics.

A video of Xiaohong’s presentation can be found on the CIC website.

Following the presentations, Florence Hudson hosted a Q&A session to answer audience questions and discuss insights.

A recording of this event is available on the Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub’s YouTube Channel and the COVID Information Commons website. The COVID Information Commons is an NSF-funded project brought to you by the Big Data Innovation Hubs, led by the Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub at Columbia University.

We look forward to welcoming you to the next CIC Lightning Talks webinar! Please sign up for the CIC newsletter to be informed of future CIC events.