Race against SARS-CoV-2: vaccines, variants, and beyond

Originally Aired April 29, 2021

It has been over a year since the World Health Organization declared SARS-CoV-2 infection a pandemic. Since then, scientists have moved at a lightning speed to understand the evolution of the virus and develop ways to prevent further spread. This has led to the approval of several vaccines, and with it, the hope that we are approaching the end of the pandemic. Yet there is still much to be learned in our race against SARS-CoV-2, lessons that can further be adapted to hopefully prevent future outbreaks. In this webinar, Marion Pepper (University of Washington), David Martinez (University of North Carolina), and Bette Korber (Los Alamos National Laboratory) will tackle different aspects of virus evolution, vaccine strategies, and host immunity that can arm us to stay ahead of SARS-CoV-2. The talks will be followed by a panel discussion with the speakers, with opportunities to ask questions relevant to their studies. We hope the webinar can help celebrate the advances of the scientific community in the past year, while continuing to expand our understanding of this unprecedented pandemic.