University launches Coronavirus Research Fundraising Campaign

As society slowly emerges from lockdown, the University continues to immediately respond to the significant challenges presented by Covid-19. Scientists in our Schools of Life Sciences and Medicine are leading on crucial research to understand the virus better, to help develop effective testing, to contribute to the global search for a vaccine and to improve outcomes for those affected locally.

The University’s work in this area is recognised as excellent and has attracted funding from the Chief Scientist’s Office, the Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, amongst other key research funding institutes. However, we still urgently need to raise more funds to continue this vital work.

Professor Inke Nathke, Interim Dean, School of Life Sciences, said, “Covid-19 will not be the last coronavirus the world will face. Our researchers are also bringing Dundee’s expertise in drug discovery to bear on future strains. The Covid-19 crisis has shown we need to have drugs proven to be effective against coronaviruses and ready on the shelf if and when future outbreaks occur.

“We greatly appreciate the help we have already received from funders. We hope the public can also support this work to progress further and faster. Donations from the public allow our scientists to be nimble by having the funds to follow emerging concepts and ideas quickly, in the pursuit of a breakthrough in the fight against this novel coronavirus and future viruses.”

Professor James Chalmers, Clinical Professor (Teaching and Research), School of Medicine said,

“The only real exit strategy for the problems that we are facing today and to get back to the world we had before is to either find a new treatment or find a vaccine. The medical community has never faced a more urgent need for treatment than the unprecedented situation we face today with Covid-19. We're conducting clinical trials that will help develop a new medicine that hopefully will prevent the main complications of coronavirus and therefore make this a treatable infection.”

As society takes small careful steps to recover and return to some kind of normality, our science can’t stand still. Your donation, whatever its size, will help ongoing research - the results of which will have a long-lasting impact on the health and well-being of our communities. We must ensure we never have to endure the painful separation from loved ones and sacrifice of our day-to-day lives again as we have seen in the current pandemic.

Anyone who wishes to make a donation and support coronavirus research at the University of Dundee can do so here.