Glasgow has provided critical insights to improve patient management, develop new treatments, assess immunity within the population and develop diagnostics and vaccines.
Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) Professor Lesley Price is co-ordinating the Scottish arm of the UK-wide SIREN study, in partnership with Public Health Scotland, and working closely with NHS Research Scotland and the Chief Scientist Office. SIREN is a study testing 100,000 health workers, which will provide information on immunity from and prevalence of COVID-19 infection. The primary objective of the study is to determine whether the presence of COVID-19 antibodies is associated with a reduction in the subsequent risk of re-infection over the next year.
GCU launched the world’s largest study into impact of physical activity on COVID-19 immunity – to find out for certain if physical activity can boost COVID-19 immunity. The study is aimed at aiding government decision-making around current recommendations on physical activity and exercise to boost immunity to COVID-19 during the coronavirus pandemic. It is the most comprehensive systematic review ever conducted into the impact of physical activity on immune response.
Scientists at the University of Glasgow are also currently working on a number of vital COVID-19 related research projects, including vaccines, treatment and virus behaviour. Researchers at the University of Glasgow are also leading two major COVID-19 trials:
-Thee OCTAVE trial – a national UK-wide trial to explore the efficacy of vaccines on people with immunocompromised conditions and diseases.
-The CISS (COVID in Scotland Study) trial – a major new pan-Scotland COVID-19 study which aims to better understand the long-term health of people who have had COVID-19.
Scientists at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR) have played a key role in studying the virus, working on a range of COVID-19 response areas including vaccine trials, virus genome sequencing, COVID-19 drug screening and virus resistance and long COVID research. Their Scottish and UK national, as well as global scientific contributions include:
- The CVR is a key part of the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium, and is one of 16 key academic institutions in the pan-UK alliance of scientists working on COVID-19 whole genome sequencing.
- In early 2021 it was announced scientists at the CVR would join G2P-UK, a new national research project to study the effects of emerging SARS-CoV-2 mutations.
- Scientists at the CVR lead the ground-breaking project, CRUSH (COVID-19 drug screening and resistance hub). The project has received £2.5million to investigate promising drug candidates for COVID-19 treatment.
- Scientists are also part of a newly-launched UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium (UK-CIC), which aims to answer key questions on how the immune system interacts with SARS-CoV-2 to help us fight COVID-19 and develop better diagnostics, treatments and vaccines.
- The CVR is also a partner in the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium.
Case Studies
Additional News Stories
If you would like to reach out to discuss anything from the above case study, please get in touch.
Let us know if you would like to discuss contributing to the case studies we currently profile.