Pathways Issue 4: COVID-19 and Seniors' Health | Page 23

Using technology to support
patients in isolation Understanding the cultural
dimensions of COVID-19
CTV NEWS UBC FACULTY OF MEDICINE
Dr. Richard Lester, UBC associate professor of
infectious diseases, is leading research to determine
the potential for a mobile virtual health-care app,
called WelTel, to help people who are self-isolating
to prevent transmission of COVID-19. Dr. Julie Bettinger, UBC associate professor of
infectious diseases, is a principal investigator of
a project led by Dr. Scott Halperin at Dalhousie
University that is examining the cultural dimensions
of COVID-19, including how individuals and
community understand and react to the disease. The
data will be used to improve the process by which
public health policies are created and implemented.
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Studying the genomic evolution
of the virus
UBC FACULTY OF MEDICINE
A team led by Dr. Jeffrey Joy, UBC assistant professor
of medicine, is studying the genomic evolution of the
virus. The team, which is collaborating with researchers
at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control as well as
other Canadian researchers, hope their research will
help focus the response, control and elimination of the
current, and future, coronavirus outbreaks.
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Answering the unknowns
UBC FACULTY OF MEDICINE
A team from UBC, the BC Centre for Disease Control
(BCCDC), and Simon Fraser University — co-led by
Dr. Natalie Prystajecky, clinical assistant professor
of pathology and laboratory medicine, and Dr. Mel
Krajden, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine
and medical director of the BCCDC Public Health
Laboratory — is trying to answer the many unknowns
about COVID-19.
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Preparing for future emerging
coronavirus outbreaks
UBC FACULTY OF MEDICINE
A team led by UBC’s Dr. Eric Jan, professor of
biochemistry and molecular biology, with Dr. Chris
Overall, professor in the Centre for Blood Research, is
working to identify protein targets of SARS and MERS
coronavirus proteases. By engineering “decoy protein
sequences,” they are hoping to block the ability of
SARS and MERS coronaviruses to function, thereby
inhibiting infection.
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Meet UBC researchers from
across all health disciplines
responding to COVID-19.
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