Biotechnology

Catching COVID-19 isn’t all-or-nothing, says virus researcher Caroline Bartman in the latest episode of Princeton University’s “We Roar” podcast. Instead, it’s more like a poison: while a tiny amount of most toxins might just make you queasy, a heaping spoonful would be deadly. And like lead poisoning from old pipes, the dose accumulates over time.

In just six weeks, from March 19 to May 1, an international team of physicists and engineers led by Princeton’s Cristian Galbiati brought a ventilator from concept to FDA approval.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on Sunday, May 3, that the Mechanical Ventilator Milano (MVM) is safe for use in the United States under the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization, which helps support public health during a crisis.

With the aim of accelerating solutions to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Princeton has awarded University funding for seven new faculty-led research initiatives with strong potential for impact.

The funding enables faculty and their teams to address crucial questions in biomedical, health-related and fundamental science, as well as policy, social and economic topics. Projects will receive funding of up to $100,000.

When corporate partners in the Princeton Catalysis Initiative sat down two years ago with David MacMillan, they presented him with a biological challenge at the heart of potential cancer medicines and other therapeutics: which proteins on a cell’s surface touch each other?