Dr. Penaloza-MacMaster is an Immunologist in the Department of Microbiology-Immunology and was recruited to Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2016 with a faculty recruitment award from the Third Coast CFAR. He was recently selected for an NIH Director New Innovator Award (DP2) to develop interferon-modulated vaccines against HIV. The project aims to develop antigenically tailored HIV vaccines containing diverse envelope sequences, with [...]

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is encouraging research to test the implementation of COVID-19 diagnostic testing in underserved or vulnerable communities through the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics for Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) initiative. NIH will hold two pre-application webinars covering the four RADx-UP funding opportunities: NOT-OD-20-119, NOT-OD-20-120, NOT-OD-20-121, and RFA-OD-20-013. First webinar: Friday, June 26, 2020, from 1–3 p.m. [...]

As the City of Chicago begins phase 3 of reopening, the Feinberg School of Medicine’s education and research programs will reactivate beginning June 3. It is recommended all Feinberg programs view the General Reactivation Guidance and Research Reactivation guides. These documents are also available on the COVID-19 website which provides additional details specific to Feinberg and the Chicago campus for faculty, [...]

The Third Coast CFAR would like to congratulate Michelle Birkett, PhD, on her new R01, which will use simulation modeling to understand HIV disparities among racial and sexual minorities in Chicago. The project joins experts in HIV epidemiology, network science, computational modeling, and health disparities research from both Northwestern and the University of Chicago/Argonne National [...]

As antibody testing ramps up across the country, Northwestern University researchers have developed a new method for testing for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) antibodies. The method requires only a single drop of blood collected from a simple finger prick.  A team of scientists, including biological anthropologist Thomas McDade, together with pharmacologist Alexis Demonbreun and investigators Dr. Richard D’Aquila, Brian [...]

On May 4, Dr. John Schneider gave an interview on WGN Radio with Anna to explain how contact tracing can be used to fight the spread of COVID-19. Dr. Schneider directs the CFAR's Developmental Core. He is also an associate professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, a network epidemiologist, and infectious disease specialist in the Departments [...]

On April 30, NIAID announced emergency awards (R21 and R01) to support research on SARS-CoV-2 and Coronavirus Disease 2019. PAR-20-177, Emergency Awards: Rapid Investigation of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (R21, Clinical Trial Not Allowed)PAR-20-178, Emergency Awards: Rapid Investigation of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Coronavirus Disease [...]

On April 29, Dr. Babafemi Taiwo gave an interview on CNN to discuss preliminary data that suggest remdesivir reduces time to recovery for COVID-19 patients.    Dr. Taiwo directs the CFAR’s Clinical Sciences Core. He is the Chief of Infectious Diseases and Gene Stollerman Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University.  View the interview here.

The University of Washington Department of Global Health and the Center for AIDS and STI are accepting applications for the 28th Annual Principles of STI/HIV Research and Public Health Practice Course. The course will be held July 20 - July 30, 2020, at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, USA.   Please join us in Seattle, [...]