Stepping into public outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aligned with our mission to advance the understanding and impact of microbiology, the Society reached out to our community of microbiologists to share their experiences in responding to SARS-CoV-2. We aim to showcase the perspective of scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic and the variety of roles adopted to mitigate the global crisis.

This case study was written by Dr Cheryl Walter, a Lecturer of Microbiology at the University of Hull. Cheryl discusses her involvement with public outreach, education, consultancy and the development of a SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care testing device. This work enabled her to use her virology skills and knowledge to adapt to the ongoing situation.

How did you respond to SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic?

I am a lecturer in Microbiology at the University of Hull and have a small virology research lab with an interest in virus–host interactions with an emphasis on antiviral drug repurposing and understanding viral egress. When the pandemic hit, an opportunity arose for me to make a real, immediate contribution in terms of research, public outreach and communication, as well as consultancy on a wide range of virology-based topics. It was both daunting and exciting!

I strongly felt that I had a duty to use my skills wherever they were needed. One of the first things I did was advise our local hospital’s virology lab on potential alternative COVID-19 testing methodologies when reagents for automated qPCR were vanishingly scarce. The alternative approaches we came up with weren’t needed in the end, but I still remember driving over to the labs with boxes of RNA extraction kits that we had cobbled together from a range of laboratories which kindly donated them without question.

I also volunteered on the COVID-19 Crowdfight initiative so that any skills I had that could contribute in the pandemic were listed in a central collaborative effort. As one of only a few academic virologists in East Riding, my skills became particularly important in public communication and have remained relevant even now, where I regularly contribute to radio, TV and online interviews or Q&A.

In addition, I teamed up with a prior collaborator here at Hull, Prof. Nicole Pamme, who is a world leading researcher in point-of-care testing devices [1,2]. We worked together on an all-in-one COVID-19 lab on a chip that could be used in resource-poor settings with minimal training and equipment, and we are starting to collect data on this technology using patient samples in these settings.

Was this response related to your work prior to the outbreak?

Broadly, yes. I could advise on virus transmission, virus viability outside of the host, disinfection regimes, and communicating the basics such as R₀, diagnostics and virus mutation. In terms of research, my skills and work in molecular virology came in handy when helping to optimise cDNA amplification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA, sequence analysis and annotation and general RNA handling.

What were some of the challenges that you faced during this time?

The two biggest challenges were the uncertainty as to how long the disruption and initial lockdown would last, but even more so, getting used to working remotely. Thankfully online meeting platforms like Zoom came along really quickly and continued to evolve, allowing for easy, reliable communication channels to meet with anyone in the world and share information.

How did your experience throughout the response aid in your development?

I certainly appreciated early on, as I think most of us have, is how adaptable I can be. I realised I can work from home productively, I could still co-ordinate and oversee research remotely and change focus quickly when needed. Dusting off the cobwebs, I drew on prior contacts, prior knowledge and learnt new skills along the way.

The pandemic also channelled me into new avenues such as a consultant for a large industrial enterprise, an advisor on industrial start-up ideas and even as an expert witness in an arbitration hearing related to COVID-19 test results! These are opportunities that might not have come along otherwise. But for me, the pandemic encouraged me to diversify my skill set, push myself out of my typical research and network bubble comfort zones and learn new things. I always tell my students to say ‘yes’ to new opportunities, even if they feel they might not be perfectly ready or suffer from imposter syndrome, and I have tried to do that myself too.

What can we learn about the importance of microbiology from the COVID-19 pandemic?

Microbiology, like any research area, will go through the peaks and troughs of being ‘sexy’ or not, in terms of funding and global priority. Pre-COVID-19 was, in my opinion, a quieter time for microbiology, especially virology. With a wide range of excellent antivirals to treat HIV and HCV available, good vaccines against HBV, HPV and influenza, the key questions hanging over everyone’s heads were ‘what will be the next disease X’ and ‘when will AMR become a pandemic, if not so already’? Despite the tools and technology we had, an emerging virus reached pandemic proportions within months of detection.

We have had to learn to be truly multi-disciplinary and multi-national in our efforts, to expect the unexpected and to be able to change course quickly! Microbiology is a large umbrella of sub-specialities but most of us will feel we can contribute towards the fight against COVID-19, be it through education, research (lab or bioinformatic-based) or our impressive network.

How did the Microbiology Society play a role in your response?

The Society has been instrumental in a number of ways. The availability of grants, journal access, members’ directory, the SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Hub as well as the excellent Microbiology Educator’s Network have all contributed towards my response during the pandemic and will surely continue to play an important role in both my teaching and research.

References

Rodriguez-Mateos P, Ngamsom B, Walter C, Dyer CE, Gitaka J, Iles A, Pamme N. A lab-on-a-chip platform for integrated extraction and detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in resource-limited settings. Anal Chim Acta. 2021;1177:338758.
Bongkot Ngamsom, Alexander Iles, Moses Kamita, Racheal Kimani, Pablo Rodriguez-Mateos, Mary Mungai, Charlotte E. Dyer, Cheryl Walter, Jesse Gitaka, Nicole Pamme. An integrated lab-on-a-chip device for RNA extraction, amplification and CRISPR-Cas12a-assisted detection for COVID-19 screening in resource-limited settings. medRxiv. Doi:http://doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.06.22268835 [Preprint]

About the author

Dr Cheryl Walter is a Lecturer in Microbiology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Hull. Find out more about her research on virus–host interactions.