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Covid-19: What state of research?

Students, Researcher

After an information platform for the general public launched last December to find out everything there is to know about the state of French and international research in the fight against Covid-19, the ministry in charge of research is completing the system by offering a series of webinars with the participation of many well-known scientists.

Giving a voice to science is the objective of these information sessions which  have been regularly held for more than a month now to provide information to a public of non-specialists on the evolution of the Covid-19 epidemic, while showing the full mobilization of French research in many fields, from life sciences to human and social sciences and mathematics.

 

Four topics to understand

To date, four webinars have been devoted to different aspects of research against the Covid, in line with the current state of the epidemic. These webinars, carried out with the support of the major French research institutes, can be viewed in replay, while waiting for new sessions which should follow in the coming days.

  • The first of these webinars (16 December) provided an opportunity to learn all about the current state of vaccine research. Conceived by students from the Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme (ESJ) in Lille and led by a medical intern, this webinar was organised around the intervention of the Inserm CEO (National Institute for Health and Medical Research).
  • The second webinar (31 December) was devoted to a specific feature of French research, which is very advanced in this field, the analysis of the presence of the virus in wastewater. Again in collaboration with ESJ students and led by specialists, this session dealt with the real-time monitoring of traces of the Sars-Cov-2 virus in wastewater throughout the country “in order to anticipate the evolution of the pandemic and characterise the virus source populations in order to guide public policies”.
  • The third episode (14 January) of this series of programmes devoted to research against Covid-19 took stock of antiviral treatments. Led by a virologist, this session attempted to answer various questions. What is the difference between a vaccine and antiviral treatment? How does an antiviral work? Who can benefit from it? Is the focus placed on therapeutic repositioning or research for a new drug? 
  • The fourth (27 January) focused on understanding the variability of the virus. And first of all, what is a variant? What is also the situation internationally and in France with regard to the Covid-19 variant?  This session, led by two students from the Sorbonne Nouvelle University gave the floor to a prestigious professor of medicine and the director of the virology department of the Pasteur Institute.

 

 

 

A complete information system

These regular webinars complement an ever-growing information system. Under the generic title La recherche mobilisée (Mobilised Research), a portal dedicated to the Covid-19 epidemic can be found on the website of the Ministry of Research.

First of all, there is an important debunk section which aims to fight against misinformation about the epidemic and "put an end to fake news". With an FAQ, this section clears some false information and preconceived ideas relating to the coronavirus epidemic. Articles, notably from research laboratories at universities and major institutes, videos, interviews with specialists, animations and statistics are also included in this information portal.

 

Check out the information platform on the mobilisation of French research

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Published on: 04/02/2021 à 17:09
Updated : 04/02/2021 à 17:06
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