The Coronavirus Pandemic and the New World it is Creating

COVID-19 is reshaping our world. We don’t yet know when the crisis will end. But we can be sure that by the time it does, our world will look very different.

How different will depend on the choices we make today.

Whoever is best at organizing the response, quickly drawing on lessons learnt from around the world and communicating successfully towards citizens and the wider world, will come out strongest.

Towards the same, our universities are being proactive in organizing the logistics and sharing guidelines and communicating the same to the academic community.

Preparing for Lab Rotations

Amid all restrictions, re-organization and planning, our Virgilio students are reaching out to labs to plan their lab rotations. Some of you have been successful in getting a place, whereas others are still awaiting confirmation. Due to social distancing measures, some of you need to either space out your lab period or plan later in the year. I can completely understand the frustration and uncertainty this is creating. But we are living through difficult times, which calls for patience and resilience.

I would like to assure you our labs are working towards establishing clear and consistent guiding principles for the conduct of research in the era of COVID-19, to define operational protocols and precautions that minimize risk of viral transmission in a laboratory/research environment, and to provide examples of how the physical and temporal space of laboratories might be organized to enact these protocols in accord with these principles.

In preparation for working in labs, all students at the start will receive lab safety instructions as well as a lab safety orientation to be aware of the additional safety aspects pertinent to the specific lab they are placed in.

I request all of you to comply with the safety measures specific to your research lab as well as following the protocol with respect to face covering and social distancing. While working in the lab, if you need anything please contact the lab PI as well as your personal Tutor.

I wish you all the best and hope you’ve a fulfilling lab rotation experience. I’m always there to support you so please feel free to contact me.