Rīga Stradiņš University Begins Researching COVID-19

Researchers at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) have begun researching the coronavirus disease. The aim of the study is to find out how the body fights COVID-19 caused by the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).

Researchers want to detect which factors in the human body have the potential to impact the symptoms of the virus, how long the virus live in the human body, how the virus sheds and how the immune system responds when someone catches the virus. The research will help to get to know the nature of the virus and why the virus affects people differently.

RSU will develop a joint COVID-19 research platform in cooperation with the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre and other local research institutions,  to join efforts in the fight against the coronavirus.

RSU is ready to allocate its own funding to this research in order for the researchers to be able to start working without delay. 

Being able to acces patient data to get information on the course of the disease and to various samples is one of the main preconditions for the research to be successful. RSU hopes that all legal and technical matters will be solved by joint efforts through the platform.

RSU has long-standing and rich experience in medical and healthcare research, including infectology, virology and epidemiology, and comprehensive infrastructure for virus research.