May 1, 2020 -- Citadel and Citadel Securities gifted 3 million pounds (about $3.8 million U.S.) to medical universities to accelerate COVID-19 research and vaccine development.
Imperial College London plans to use the 2 million-pound donation ($2.5 million) to advance its initiative to develop a scalable, low-dose self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) vaccine for COVID-19. An saRNA vaccine makes multiple copies of itself once injected, making it possible to induce immunity with very low doses.
Barts Health NHS Trust, in partnership with University College London and Queen Mary University of London, plans to use the 1 million-pound donation ($1.3 million) to advance their initiative to create a COVID-19 bioresource repository. Researchers continue to collect samples weekly from 1,000 front-line workers before, during, and after their exposure to COVID-19. The data are expected to answer critical questions about immune response and risk factors related to the virus.