Author Archives: ecroe

Seth Noar, PhD, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center member, is leading a five-year, $3.35 million national study to develop and test messages that discourage adolescents from using electronic cigarettes. UNC School of Medicine’s Ilona Jaspers, PhD, is part of the project. Read the full story here.

Christine Vigeland, MD, found her calling during residency as the H1N1 pandemic was ending in 2010. She dedicated her career to researching acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and treating ICU patients. Ten years later, the knowledge she’s gained and her continued commitment to the most critical patients are guiding her...

Richard Boucher, MD, has been consulted for a Raleigh News & Observer article reporting on the importance of nose-covering masks in protecting against COVID-19. The article, “UNC Coronavirus Study Shows Why It’s Important to Wear a Mask That Covers Your Nose,” draws on research conducted by Dr. Boucher and MLI researchers...

The UNC School of Medicine and NC TraCS awarded pilot funding to three teams for the 2020 Emerging Challenges in Biomedical Research Awards in a call highlighting research to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Martina Gentzsch, PhD, is the PI of one team that will study inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 Envelope...

Richard Boucher, MD, has been quoted in a US News & World Report article, “Lab Experiments Show How Masks Could Protect Against COVID-19.” The article summarizes research conducted by Dr. Boucher and MLI researchers in collaboration with the laboratory of Ralph S. Baric, MD, and subsequently published in Cell. Read the...

A major study of coronavirus infection in human airways adds to evidence that wearing a mask is an important protective step toward limiting transmission of COVID-19. The lead authors of the study in the journal Cell are UNC-Chapel Hill pulmonary expert Richard Boucher, MD, and virology expert Ralph Baric, PhD....

Ilona Jaspers, PhD, professor of pediatrics, microbiology and immunology, and environmental sciences and engineering, has been named Director of the Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma, and Lung Biology effective May 31, 2020. Jaspers previously served as the Center’s Deputy Director. Read the full article here.

The UNC School of Medicine has researchers across disciplines working together to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Among them are several researchers from the Marsico Lung Institute working as a team to map the entry sites for SARS-CoV-2 in the respiratory tract and explore the risk/benefit aspects of drugs commonly used...

Ray Pickles, PhD, and Robert Tarran, PhD, have both been consulted for separate articles about the possibility that smoking and vaping could increase vulnerabilities to the coronavirus. Dr. Pickles was consulted by Neoscope for an article entitled “Experts: Vaping Could Make Coronavirus Infection More Severe,” which can be found here. Scientific American...

As a wave of vaping-related deaths was thrust into the spotlight last year, researchers at the UNC School of Medicine and colleagues at Carolina have become experts in all areas of the field from pulmonology to marketing. Among the experts discussed are Robert Tarran, PhD, and Ilona Jaspers, PhD, both...