When the Others Become Us: A Chemist’s Perspective of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Italy

Abstract

The spread of COVID-19 has been declared a pandemic, and we as a global community are watching as hot spots of this illness emerge across not only countries but continents. As the situation has progressed, the focus of scientists and their ability to undertake most experiments has been limited to facilitating physical distancing. Still, research addressing varied aspects of diagnosing, treating, and mitigating the spread of COVID-19 is not only continuing but accelerating with the goal of reducing loss of life. Chemical biologists have integral contributions to make: Chemical tools can address challenges in biology, which is what is required to understand and mitigate SARS-CoV-2. Given that Italy is now under tremendous stress from COVID-19, we asked an Italian scientist to discuss the strategies that academic and industrial laboratories in Italy are pursuing to limit the impact of the virus both on their research and on society. We hope that this perspective along with that of our Chinese colleagues will provide insight into the important scientific advancements and the human aspects of advancing science in the face of a rapidly growing pandemic.