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UNC Getting $29 Million in N.C. Virus Research Funding

The University has been at the forefront of coronavirus research, having recently been named the highest-rated university in the U.S. for coronavirus research by Microsoft Academic. (File photo)

The N.C. Policy Collaboratory based at UNC will receive $29 million to study treatment, community testing and prevention of COVID-19 under a $1.5 billion coronavirus relief package approved by state legislators last week and signed by Gov. Roy Cooper ’79 (’82 JD) on Monday. The bill includes $85 million for five North Carolina universities to study and fight the virus.

The University has been at the forefront of coronavirus research, having recently been named the highest-rated university in the U.S. for coronavirus research by Microsoft Academic.

The nation’s coronavirus task force recently announced that remdesivir, on which the Gillings School of Global Public Health performed early tests, is effective at treating coronavirus and will be a standard of care for patients fighting COVID-19. The testing was led by Ralph Baric, the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of epidemiology, who has studied coronaviruses for more than 30 years and pioneered rapid-response approaches for the study of emerging viruses and the development of therapeutics.

The N.C. General Assembly established the N.C. Policy Collaboratory in 2016 to help disseminate the policy and research expertise of UNC System universities for practical use by state and local government. The collaborator, which facilitates and funds research projects across the state, is supporting COVID-19 research projects that are intended to provide new data and information to state lawmakers and policymakers to help guide the state’s response.

Included in the legislative package is money for Wake Forest, Duke, East Carolina and Campbell universities.


 

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