Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons | Department of Physiology & Cellular Biophysics

COVID-19: A partnership between basic science and clinical care

Friday, April 10, 2020

Dear members of the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics and colleagues at Columbia University:

I am proud to note the role of our colleague Filippo Mancia in the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics in the development of the clinical serological assay being established in the Department of Pathology & Cell Biology by Kevin Roth and his clinical microbiology colleagues (click on video message from the CUIMC Executive Leadership). Please join me in congratulating Filippo and the members of his laboratory and Kevin and his colleagues for their extraordinary advances in testing COVID-19 patients and suspected patients.

Within a few short weeks, Fillipo's lab, in close partnership with our colleagues in Pathology, were able to develop, from scratch, a critical assay that will enable the Department of Pathology to detect anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in COVID-19 positive patients. This test is going to enable health care workers in the NYP system to safely return to work if they are positive for neutralizing antibodies, and no longer RT-PCR positive for the virus.

The collaboration between the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, and NYP, with the support of Steve Corwin, Lee Goldman and Mike Shelanski is a beautiful example of ways in which basic scientists at Columbia are supporting the critical mission of our clinical colleagues and NYP in the battle against COVID-19.

Ongoing efforts in Physiology and other departments, including David Ho's lab in the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and Department of Medicine, and Ian Lipkin's lab at Mailman School of Public Health, the School of Engineering, the Zuckerman Institute, as well as many othersut the university, hold tremendous promise to develop additional tests, treatments, personal protective equipment and vaccines for COVID-19. Frankly, the partnerships that have been formed between the basic sciences, the clinical enterprise and NYP throughoare extraordinary. The mobilization of the basic science community at Columbia university has been rapid, selfless and a credit to the collective sense of collaboration across diverse skill sets.

Most importantly, the heroic efforts of our clinical colleagues, their daily sacrifices, the incomparable suffering endured by COVID-19 patients, inspire us to put everything we have into the fight against COVID-19. Winning this fight will take the best of what each of us have to give

Stay safe,

Andrew R. Marks, M.D.
Wu Professor and Chair, Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics
Founding Director, Helen and Clyde Wu Center for Molecular Cardiology

HELPFUL LINKS:

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University

Coronavirus Resource Center Information on COVID-19 for patients and the Columbia University Irving Medical Center

CDC (COVID-19) What you need to know

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (COVID-19) NEWS