COVID-19: Scientific triumphs and lingering questions

SARS-CoV-2 NIH

Five world-class experts, including the lead developer of the German-based BioNTech vaccine, shared their insights about the COVID-19 pandemic during a half-day, virtual symposium hosted by the Helmholtz Association consortium for Immunology and Inflammation (I&I) and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC).

The I&I COVID-19 Symposium on March 3 was one of the most successful scientific symposia hosted by the MDC, attracting about 2,000 researchers, journalists and members of the public.

Read the full story at MDC to hear from:

  • Professor Michael Meyer-Hermann, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Germany
    A physicist modeling the spread of the pandemic, who has advised the German government on response strategies and lockdowns.
  • Professor Susan R. Weiss, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, USA
    A microbiologist who has studied coronavirus replication and pathogenesis for 40 years, with insight into how the different coronaviruses work and cause disease.
  • Professor Jean-Laurent Casanova, The Rockefeller University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA
    A geneticist who has identified an important aspect of why COVID-19 disease can be severe in some patients and not in others.
  • Professor Michel C. Nussenzweig, The Rockefeller University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA
    An immunologist investigating monoclonal antibody treatments, now in advanced clinical trials, with insight about how well different antibodies might fight virus variants.
  • Professor Uğur Şahin, BioNTech, Germany
    An oncologist who led development of the first mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 in record time, with insight about the historic achievement, the vaccine and variants.

Photo Credit: NIH, Public Domain