Alumni and friends raise more than £1.3 million for COVID-19 research
Since the University of Cambridge launched its COVID-19 research fund in March, more than 250 donors have given generously to help in the fight against the novel coronavirus.
Collectively, gifts of all sizes are making a significant difference to the University’s response, helping clinical trials to continue and allowing vital research to progress in areas ranging from drug repurposing to health informatics.
Alumni and friends have shared moving stories of what inspired them to give, many saying that they felt it important to support research as they had friends and family working in the NHS, or that they had lost loved ones to the virus.
Many were also inspired to support after reading about the SAMBA II rapid diagnostic machine trials that have been shown to reduce time spent on COVID-19 ‘holding’ wards – allowing patients to be treated or discharged far quicker than with current lab testing set-ups.
I am 97 this year. I worked on the front line of the Polio outbreak in the USA when I was a young doctor. Now I am shielded and others are on the front line. I want to contribute to the health of those living tomorrow.
Part of the funds raised will go towards a suite of Containment Level 3 laboratories. Located in the new Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Diseases (CITIID), these specialist facilities allow for the safe handling of pathogens such as COVID-19. Thanks to donors’ generosity, these critical facilities rapidly came into use to be immediately deployed by all CITIID researchers, as the Institute pivoted its full capacity towards COVID research. Being able to study the live virus will help researchers gain new insights into how possible treatments might work and how the virus could be contained in the future. Crucially, biological samples will be made available to multiple research groups to further accelerate impact.
Sadly my dad lost his battle with Coronavirus just over a week ago after contracting the virus through his job as an Ambulance Care Assistant for the NHS. I have wanted to donate to help to stop more lives being lost and more families to have to go through what we have because of this virus. I want to do what we can to get to a Covid-19 free future and support the amazing work going on at Cambridge.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen J Toope, commented “On behalf of the Cambridge community, I am deeply appreciative of the outpouring of public support for our research into COVID-19. These gifts will make a real difference across many areas of research and the new laboratories will allow us to increase the scale and scope of our efforts to tackle this disease. Thank you to all who have given — we are grateful that you have placed your trust in us.”
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