Biostatistics Journal Club: The Interferon Landscape Along the Respiratory Tract Impacts the Severity of COVID-19

The COVID-19 outbreak has caused six million deaths globally. Most of the severe cases are characterized by an over-exuberant production of immune mediators, which are not fully understood. The role of interferons during COVID-19 have been a matter of debate. Enju Liu, PhD, Boston Children’s Hospital, will present a project in which she and her colleagues examined the interferon expressions along the respiratory tract among COVID-19 patients, and how they are related to viral load, patient age, and disease severity.

Required Reading:

The Interferon Landscape Along the Respiratory Tract Impacts the Severity of COVID-19

Speaker Bio:

Enju Liu, PhD, is a senior biostatistician and epidemiologist in the Biostatistics and Research Design Center, at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is also assistant professor in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Her research has focused on nutrition, infectious diseases, and child growth. She has collaborated with investigators sponsored by the National Institute of Health, the Gates Foundation, and the World Health Organization in both United States and international settings. Her efforts in the field have resulted in dozens of publications in peer reviewed scientific journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine and Cell.