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Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are on track to produce a vaccine against the new coronavirus. (Karolinska Institutet)
Sweden: Covid-19

Karolinska Institutet on Track to Produce Vaccine Against Coronavirus

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet announced they are on track to produce a vaccine against the new coronavirus, Sars-CoV-2. Several vaccine candidates are currently available in the freezers at the Department of Laboratory Medicine and the first animal studies are slated to begin at the end of March, according to Professor and Head of Department Matti Sällberg who is leading the effort together with virus researcher and Professor Ali Mirazimi and researcher Gustaf Ahlén.

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The new device fits around an Ambu bag (blue), which hospitals already have on hand in abundance. Designed to be squeezed by hand, instead they are squeezed by mechanical paddles (center) driven by a small motor. This directs air through a tube which is placed in the patient's airway. (Courtesy of the researchers)
USA: Battling Covid-19

Open-Source, Low-Cost Ventilator for Corona Patients

One of the most pressing shortages facing hospitals during the Covid-19 emergency is a lack of ventilators. These machines can keep patients breathing when they no longer can on their own, and are quite expensive. Now, a rapidly assembled volunteer team of engineers, physicians, computer scientists, and others, centered at MIT, is working to implement a safe, inexpensive alternative for emergency use, which could be built quickly around the world.

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