Life And Matter Sciences Events

Covid-19

The health situation in front of the COVID-19 pandemic

On May 26, 2020, three experts in infectious diseases and microbiology inaugurated the series of “Online conversations from the Ramón Areces Foundation”. In this first conversation, moderated by the microbiologist Emilio Bouza, expert in infectious diseases and a member of the Scientific Council of the Ramón Areces Foundation, participated Mariano Esteban, research Professor at CSIC; Ángel Asensio, preventive medicine specialist at the Puerta de Hierro Hospital in Madrid; and Patricia Muñoz, specialist in infectious diseases at the Gregorio Marañón University Hospital.

Covid-19. Second wave

With the resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 cases, the virus decided to surprise us all with a second wave of illness and misfortune. Three experts in infectious diseases, Carlos Barros, from the Mostoles University Hospital; Patricia Muñoz, from the Gregorio Marañón Hospital; and Enrique Navas, from the Ramón y Cajal Hospital, discussed the situation, its causes, the day-to-day reality, and its future prospects.  

National Epidemiological Study COVID-19: What have we learned from the data?

Raquel Yotti, Director of the Carlos III Health Institute; Marina Pollán, Director of the National Epidemiology Center; and Juan Fernando Muñoz Montalvo, Deputy Director General of Information Technologies of the Ministry of Health, analyzed in detail the results on the third wave of the National Study of the Sero-Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Spain (ENE-COVID), in which the Ministry of Health and the Carlos III Health Institute have collaborated with the Health Councils of the autonomous communities. The discussion was moderated by Miguel Jerez Méndez, from the Council of Social Sciences of the Ramón Areces Foundation. 

The other viruses

Manuel Cuenca Estrella, Deputy Director General of Applied Services, Training and Research of the Carlos III Health Institute; Mª Paz Sánchez Seco, coordinator of the Reference Laboratory and Research on Arboviruses and Imported Viruses of the National Microbiology Center (ISCIII); and Inmaculada Casas, coordinator of the Reference Laboratory and Research on Respiratory Viruses and Flu of the National Center for Microbiology (ISCIII), reviewed the information we have on other viruses with pandemic and lethal potential, particularly those causing currently imported infections and that are poorly understood. 

Vaccines: a target in innovation

The main objective of this conference was to delve into vaccines as instruments for innovation with an eye on the health problems caused by COVID-19 and in the ways to alleviate this coronavirus lethal effects. Mariano Esteban Rodríguez and Luis Enjuanes Sánchez, from the National Center for Biotechnology; and Juan Carlos López Bernaldo de Quirós, from the Gregorio Marañón Hospital, discussed about the vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, and analyzed their status, advantages, and clinical trials in hospitals, as well as their worldwide outreach. They were moderated by the RANF scholar, Honorio Bando. 

Medical Relevance of Research in Physics. Application to the COVID-19 pandemic 

In this lecture José María Benlloch, Director of the I3M Research Institute (CSIC- Polytechnic University of Valencia) and awarded with the Jaime I Prize for New Technologies, reviewed the important contribution of Physics in the advancement of Medicine, highlighting its practical contribution to the diagnosis and treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic. He assured that it is particularly important to assess and verify the practical clinical contribution of currently available drugs and use them as effective antivirals against COVID-19.