The NASB held a regular meeting of the Republican interagency work group for coping with COVID-19 on “Assessment of specific humoral and cell-mediated immunity in coronaviral infection” chaired by Vladimir Gusakov, the Chairman of the NASB Presidium. Leading scientists of the Academy of Science, the Ministry of Health and medical, biological and chemical higher educational institutions participated in the group activities.
The main speeches were made by: Igor Karpov, the Head of a department of the Belarusian State Medical University, Andrey Goncharov, the Director of the Institute of Biophysics and Cell Engineering of the NASB, and Elena Fomina, the Head of immunology and cell engineering laboratory of the Republican Research and Practical Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology.
The meeting participants noted clinical significance of determination of humoral and cell-mediated immunity in patients with coronaviral infection for efficient implementation of an individual set of treatment and diagnostic activities, importance of serologic testing for detection of groups with higher risk of infection and modeling of immune response after vaccination.
The scientists confirmed topicality of fundamental research on pathogenic mechanisms of damage of various organs and systems in COVID-19 for justification and development of new treatment methods with use of cell technologies, blood laser irradiation, etc. The need for studying and comprehensive assessment of findings of global scientific research on creation of vaccine for large-scale coronaviral infection prevention, and possibilities of Belarusian scientists to solve this problem were also mentioned.
It was decided to publish a book of reports according to the results of meetings of the Interagency group and video conference between the Russian Academy of Sciences and the NASB “Coronaviral infection: fundamental, clinical and epidemiological aspects. Social and economic challenges for the healthcare”.
The Republican interagency work group for coping with COVID-19 was established by Resolution No. 223 of the Bureau of NASB Presidium as of May 18, 2020. It includes more than 30 experts representing academic and higher educational science: the leading scientists of the NASB, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, and health professionals - practitioners of the country’s healthcare system. The purpose of the Interagency group is to organize and coordinate activities of medical staff of the entire country on practical implementation of actions on coping with the coronavirus.