Three UVA research teams, all CIC Members, are participating in this year’s STAT Madness Competition, a lighthearted contest to identify the year’s most impactful biomedical research. The contest, a riff on the NCAA March Madness Bracket, invites the community to vote for research projects in a series of head-to-head contests.
Jie Sun, PhD, Professor of Infectious Disease and International Health & Resident Member of the Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research, is nominated for his team’s work on the immune origins of long COVID. The paper, published in the journal Nature, shows how uncontrolled immune responses can cause lasting damages to lung tissue after viral infections.
William Petri, Jr, MD, PhD, Professor of Infectious Disease and International Health & Member of the Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research, is nominated for his team’s work studying how C. difficile infections interact with the nervous system. Blocking the parasympathetic nervous system’s “fight or flight” response resulted in less severe infection, an important result for understanding the disease and the mind-gut axis.
W. Gerald Teague, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and & Member of the Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research, is nominated for his team’s work on childhood wheezing. Wheezing is usually associated with asthma, but in a study of over 800 kids and teens, Teague found 25% of wheezing was due to “silent” viral infections, which opens the door to more effective treatment.
To support these UVA researchers, make an account on the STAT Madness website and click on the “Vote Now” button. Each account can vote once each day between now and the end of round one on Monday, March 10.