Help Support the Scientific Effort to End the COVID-19 Crisis

Nearly a quarter of COVID-19 patients develop life-threatening respiratory failure (ARDS) and a hyper inflammatory condition. The virus does not kill directly – rather, it is the immune system’s excess reaction to the virus, known as a “cytokine storm”, which causes organs to fail and people to die.

With a vaccine likely more than a year away, the clinicians and scientists at Mount Sinai are working together to find better ways to treat the disease and help turn the corner on this crisis.

The Precision Immunology Institute at Mount Sinai (PrIISM) is rapidly leveraging its cutting-edge research on hyper inflammation in cancer to help COVID-19 patients. The team is carrying out one of the largest studies of its kind to determine the precise cause of the lethal response to SARS-CoV-2 (novel coronavirus) and to understand why some infected individuals only have mild disease.  These studies will provide our best opportunity to find better ways to treat COVID-19 and reduce the terrible mortality rate of the disease.

The PrIISM team is collecting and meticulously measuring the inflammatory response of every single COVID-19 patient at Mount Sinai using cutting edge technology platforms. This data and analysis will be used to develop a test that predicts disease severity and to identity existing drugs that can be repurposed to treat COVID-19. This work has the potential to reduce casualties in New York and around the world.

Led by world-renowned immunologist and recently elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, Miriam Merad, MD, PhD, and with a deep bench of experts in virology, computational biology, genomics and drug development, the Precision Immunology Institute at Mount Sinai (PrIISM) has developed broad expertise in analyzing, understanding, and treating hyper inflammatory reactions. The PrIISM team is uniquely positioned to rapidly apply their knowledge and technology from immunotherapy in the context of other diseases to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Philanthropy is urgently needed to advance this research at the scale and speed required by the pandemic, saving as many lives as possible. Funds will support the significant resources required to rapidly undertake this work, including skilled personnel, research equipment, and a broad array of assays. Please join us in supporting of this vital research and donate today.

Every disease, and even normal aging, is influenced by the immune system. This discovery is beginning to transform the treatment of major diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s. Scientists and clinicians at Mount Sinai’s Precision Immunology Institute (PrIISM) have been at the forefront of this revolution in medicine, pioneering a new model of medical science to further transform how drugs are discovered and patients are treated.  Dr. Miriam Merad, Director of PrIISM, oversees cutting edge research in Viral Immunology, Inflammatory Disease and Cancer Immunotherapy.  The PrIISM team has an extensive understanding of how to harness and regulate inflammation in patients, and they are now mobilizing their knowledge and unique scientific resources to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.