Marking One Year into the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

by Patricia A. Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, Ph.D., M.A,

YouTube Link to Talk

Thursday March 25, 2021

Joint Meeting of the Boston/New Jersey/Gordon Student Chapters

SUMMARY – As we have passed fifteen months since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in Wuhan, China, one year since the US pandemic lock-down began, and the sobering reality of more than a half million US deaths, we, as scientists who follow Christ, have much to be grateful for, great reasons for optimism as well as potential reasons for concern. We will discuss the biology of SARS-CoV-2, the natural history of the pandemic, and the record-breaking rate of development and implementation of vaccines. We will also talk about questions regarding long-haul COVID-19 as well as vaccine implementation, safety, ethics, and limitations. In addition, the importance of science advocacy by scientists of faith regarding the pandemic will be covered.

SPEAKER - Dr. Fitzgerald-Bocarsly received her undergraduate degree from UCLA, her PhD from Boston University and her post-doctoral training at the Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. She is Vice Chair for Basic Science of the Department and Scientific Director of the Flow Cytometry and Immunology Core Laboratory at the NJMS. Her research focuses on the human innate immune response to viral infections, with a focus on plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Her lab was among the very first to describe these cells and the first to describe their dysregulation in the context of HIV infection.

Her current research focuses on the signaling pathways that lead to the production of type I and type III interferons in human pDC, how these cells differ in different anatomical locations, and how they change in the context of aging with and without HIV infection as well as the immunometabolism of these cells in these different immune compartments and disease states.

Education

Ph.D., 1980, Boston University
M.A., 1977, University of California at Davis