CHAPTER 16: Knowledge from Human Relevant Cell, Tissue and Mathematics-based Methods as Key Tools for Understanding COVID-19 Dynamics, Kinetics, Symptoms, Risk Factors and Non-conventional Treatments
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Published:27 Apr 2022
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Special Collection: 2022 ebook collection
S. Coecke, A. Munoz, V. D'Alessandro, F. De Bernardi, P. Romeo, F. Torres, ... S. Parvatam, in The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Future Volume 1, ed. M. D. Waters, A. Dhawan, T. Marrs, D. Anderson, S. Warren, C. L. Hughes, ... C. L. Hughes, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2022, pp. 455-525.
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Over the past two decades, the world has experienced several outbreaks of coronaviruses with elevated morbidity rates. Although knowledge from previous severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) infection has been instrumental, not all specific severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) features have been clarified, nor are the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms fully understood. It is therefore necessary to understand in detail the dynamics and kinetics of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which includes the means of entry into the organism via the external body barriers (e.g. nose, lung, eye, intestine), its distribution and passage through internal body barriers (e.g. placenta barrier, blood–brain barrier) into the various human body organs, and its subsequent viral dynamics. The mechanistic understanding on modulators of the immune response and cell homeostasis balance and specific risk factors is critical to understand the systems biological processes underlying the multi-organ systems effect and will improve diagnosis, prevention and therapeutic strategies. Cross-community research on SARS-CoV-2 is essential to understand its detailed pathophysiology and mechanisms of infection, host–virus interactions, replication kinetics and targets for therapeutic screening. Medical researchers, cell biologists, life science experts, mathematical modelers and bioengineers across the world are actively collaborating to accelerate the rapid development of the relevant cell, tissue and mathematical methods to gain detailed mechanistic knowledge of this new disease. Consequently, almost in real-time, innovative solutions for developing diagnostic tools and providing preventive and curative strategies will be possible using knowledge from the new generation of in vitro and in silico methods and related technologies.