Government funding ramps up COVID-19 research around the globe
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Government funding ramps up COVID-19 research around the globe
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aterials research laboratories in the United States have received urgent funding for research on SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID19. However, their call to the US federal government for a relief package to cover research projects that have been put on hold due to the pandemic remains unheeded. On March 27, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law. The over USD$2 trillion economic relief package includes assistance for operating costs of government laboratories and programs as well as new funding for R&D against the 2019 novel coronavirus or COVID-19. For example, USD$50 million goes to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) to help small- and mid-size businesses recover from the economic
effects of the coronavirus. It also covers operating costs for the national laboratories scientific user facilities under the US Department of Energy (DOE) to the tune of USD$99.5 million. For work related to solving the coronavirus pandemic, an additional USD$28 million goes to DOE to support remote access by the department’s employees enabling researchers, for example, to use its supercomputers through the COVID19 HPC (High Performance Computing) Consortium (covid19-hpc-consortium. org). The consortium reported over 40 active projects, as of mid-May. Along with the user facilities, members of the consortium include IBM, AMD, and Intel from industry; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from academia; and numerous
This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (round blue objects) emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the laboratory. SARS-CoV-2, also known as 2019-nCoV, is the virus that causes COVID-19. The virus shown was isolated from a patient in the United States. Credit: NIAID-RML.
supercomputer centers supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Another USD$28 million goes to support DOE employees working remotely for other COVID-19-related work. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) receives USD$6 million to continue operations, including research and measurements to improve on COVID-19 testing and diagnostics. The CARES Act also provides funding for new R&D to combat COVID19. NSF is spending USD$75 million in its Rapid Response Research (RAPID) Grants program toward nonmedical R&D to better understand the coronavirus. Proposals may be up to USD$200,000 for one-year studies. Linda S. Sapochak, who is the Director of the Division of Materials Research (DMR), told MRS Bulletin that as of the beginning of June, “So far, NSF has invested in 699 awards specifically focused on COVID-19, totaling USD$96,748,372. Of those projects, NSF’s Division of Materials Research has provided funding or co-funding for 18 RAPID/EAGER awards that capitalize on or advance materials research, and we have some more in the pipeline, actually.” Sapochak points to grants from her division going to materials researchers across t
