COVID-19 is testing our health care systems in ways unseen in recent history. At the onset of the pandemic, Dr. Smith and the Davey Lab quickly mobilized to mitigate the spread of the virus and develop treatments for those affected. The Davey Lab is leveraging core technologies and partnering with top clinical infectious disease specialists at UC San Diego and beyond to conduct diagnostic tests, identify and test new antiviral drugs, develop antibody therapies, and launch vaccine trials.

The Davey Lab has been on the front lines as the virus evolves. Lab members immediately began to investigate methods that would increase the efficiency of testing as well as understand the disease process—how does the virus mutate and spread within a population? Through sequencing the virus, the Davey Lab is able to track the disease as it spreads into vulnerable populations, which informs the best means for contact tracing (a process of supporting patients and warning contacts of exposure to stop the chain of transmission).

Dr. Smith is also leading clinical trials to test new drugs for treatment of COVID-19. He and the Davey Lab members are working to develop assays to detect virus-specific antibodies that are critical to understanding the prevalence of infection and the course of the immune response. Further, lab members are contributing to a growing number of basic science and clinical research projects.