Biomedical Science to Tackle the COVID-19 Pandemic: Current Status and Future Perspectives

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 25; no. 20; p. 4620
• Main Authors: Zamora-Ledezma, Camilo, C, David F Clavijo, Medina, Ernesto, Sinche, Federico, Santiago Vispo, Nelson, Dahoumane, Si Amar, Alexis, Frank
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 11.10.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Betacoronavirus - drug effects; Betacoronavirus - isolation & purification; Biomedical Research - standards; clinical trials; Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis; Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control; Coronavirus Infections - transmission; Coronavirus Infections - virology; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; diagnostics; Disease Management; Economic crisis; Fatalities; Humans; Infectious diseases; Influenza; Medical equipment; Monitoring; Mortality; nanomedicine; Nanotechnology; Pandemics; Pandemics - prevention & control; Physicians; Pneumonia, Viral - diagnosis; Pneumonia, Viral - prevention & control; Pneumonia, Viral - transmission; Pneumonia, Viral - virology; Prevention; Protein composition; Public health; Review; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Signs and symptoms; Telemedicine; treatment; Vaccines; Viruses; United States > US; Europe; China; treatment; nanomedicine; diagnostics; clinical trials; vaccines; prevention
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules25204620

The coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) pandemic emerged at the end of 2019, and was caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which has resulted in an unprecedented health and economic crisis worldwide. One key aspect, compared to other recent pandemics, is the level of urgency, which has started a race for finding adequate answers. Solutions for efficient prevention approaches, rapid, reliable, and high throughput diagnostics, monitoring, and safe therapies are needed. Research across the world has been directed to fight against COVID-19. Biomedical science has been presented as a possible area for combating the SARS-CoV-2 virus due to the unique challenges raised by the pandemic, as reported by epidemiologists, immunologists, and medical doctors, including COVID-19's survival, symptoms, protein surface composition, and infection mechanisms. While the current knowledge about the SARS-CoV-2 virus is still limited, various (old and new) biomedical approaches have been developed and tested. Here, we review the current status and future perspectives of biomedical science in the context of COVID-19, including nanotechnology, prevention through vaccine engineering, diagnostic, monitoring, and therapy. This review is aimed at discussing the current impact of biomedical science in healthcare for the management of COVID-19, as well as some challenges to be addressed.