As people around the world are affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Biophysical Society is sharing stories from members about how their lives and research have been impacted. 

Kenneth Campbell, University of Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky, US

I am a Professor of Physiology at the University of Kentucky, and a Biophysical Society member since 2009. Our state is bracing for the impact of COVID-19 and our university has encouraged basic scientists to work remotely as the healthcare system gears up for the challenge. I’ve been working out of my home basement since March 13.

Our lab works on cardiac contractility but we also run several big biospecimens programs for our institution. Zoom meetings relating to COVID-19 reminded me that we had an unpublished dataset of ACE2 mRNA expression in n=100 human hearts. We mined that overnight with colleagues from Statistics and might be able to push out a quick paper and share the dataset. We’re also trying to see if we can kickstart a new biospecimens program that collects samples from patients who have COVID-19 and distributes them to researchers at different institutions.

It’s a challenging time for everyone but our Heart Institute’s therapy dog (https://www.facebook.com/SelahThD/) tells us “Courage above Fear”. We’re just trying to make a contribution. #flattenthecurve.

Campbell Lab & on Twitter @CampbellLabatUK