We are in a very challenging time. The world has changed significantly since our last Notre Dame Research newsletter. We hope this message finds you and your loved ones safe and healthy during this difficult time.
Like all universities, the University of Notre Dame had to respond quickly on all fronts to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Within days of Indiana’s “stay at home” order, Notre Dame ramped-down over 330 research laboratories to hibernation states. The only laboratories that remained open or partially open were essential facilities, such as our life sciences facility, and a handful of laboratories that are conducting COVID-19 research or research that was designated as essential to national security. Our Notre Dame Research staff also migrated quickly to “working from home.” In comparison with our friends and neighbors in other industries, our transition to “stay at home” was relatively smooth and we continue to be employed and doing meaningful work. We feel very blessed.
Despite the urgency of all of the changes, Notre Dame researchers have stepped forward to respond to the crisis in some remarkable ways. In the early days of the crisis, the University was fielding urgent requests for assistance from our local healthcare providers, the State of Indiana, and alumni nationally. We mobilized to donate personal protective equipment (PPE) that was not being used with labs in hibernation. We gathered a farm of 3D printers from across campus to manufacture face shields. Our shops built intubation shields for hospitals. And our microbiologists continue to advise local entities about disinfecting and recycling PPE. From improved testing to hospital surge planning and more, you can read about our researchers’ efforts in the stories we have curated for you in this special COVID-19 newsletter edition.
Infectious diseases have not always been a popular and well-funded research area, but Notre Dame has persisted in this area across topics ranging from neglected tropical disease to antibiotic-resistant bacteria to epidemiology. We persisted because infectious disease is a mission fit. Now, our historic and very strong research programs are coming to the fore. Unfortunately, infectious diseases will be with the world for the foreseeable future. As a result, the University of Notre Dame’s researchers will continue their collaborative efforts to better understand and ultimately stop the spread of this virus, the other viruses in this same deadly family, and new infectious diseases that emerge in the future. We look forward to sharing progress in our fight against these challenges, and more, in future issues of this newsletter.
We hope and pray that this pandemic ends soon and that our new normal is one where the research programs at Notre Dame, in collaboration with the best scholars from around the world, will keep future outbreaks from becoming pandemics that cause the kind of hardship that has been wrought by COVID-19.
Sincerely,
Bob Bernhard
