The Mount Sinai Health System has initiated a procedure known as plasmapheresis, where the antibodies from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 will be transferred into critically ill patients with the disease, with the expectation that the antibodies will neutralize it. Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, including renowned influenza researcher Florian Krammer, PhD, in collaboration with Viviana A. Simon, MD, PhD, were among the first to develop a test to detect COVID-19 antibodies.
“We are hoping to identify patients who can provide the antibodies,” says Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System. “We are at the front lines in fighting this pandemic and making discoveries that will help our patients.”
