SAINT DIEGO- When people think of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, they often think it is a respiratory infection. But the symptoms can really be general, and new research being done at UC San Diego School of Medicine is proving it.
“What we have learned throughout the year, since COVID-19 arrived, although the target site of infection is the lungs, but the consequences we are seeing in people are related to the heart, brain and many other things, ”explained Tariq Granota, a professor and head of the Genetics Division in the Department of Pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Moores Cancer Center.
Then this led the researchers to two questions: Does the virus infect all organs of the body in the same way? And are the problems we are seeing with the virus due to the way our body is reacting to the infection?
UCSD researchers are using stem cells to create 3D organ-like structures that represent the lungs and brain, for analysis.
The representation of viruses in both the brain and lungs was significantly more common in the lungs.
UC San Diego
“When a virus infects cells, there are molecules on the surface, they’re like door knobs, and it turns out there are 10 times more knobs in the lungs than in the brain. Which makes sense that there’s more infection in the lungs. lungs than in the brain, “Frog explained.
This, in turn, will affect the way the virus is treated when it attacks different organs.
Researchers are also analyzing how the virus affects people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds in order to hopefully be able to offer more specific treatment options.
UC San Diego researchers are also focusing their efforts on creating new vaccines right now to hopefully try and eventually help in the fight against the deadly disease.
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