blog posts

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  Study launched to study vaccine relationship to menstrual cycle

  Apr 13, 2021 10:15 am

  Kate Clancy from UIUC and a colleague are launching a study on the COVID vaccine and the relationship to the menstrual cycle after experiencing unusual side effects.

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  UI Health now operating 4 COVID-19 testing & triage clinics

  Dec 10, 2020 10:45 am

  UI Health teams have worked together to plan, develop, and launch four COVID-19 triage and testing sites at various locations to help manage the flow and influx of patients with COVID-19 symptoms and exposure.

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  Shield T3 launches a vending machine for COVID-19 tests

  Sep 16, 2022 10:15 am

  Shield T3, a spin out of the U of I System’s Discovery Partners Institute, is now providing vending machines stocked with more than 300 of its saliva-based, PCR tests for COVID-19. 

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  UIC epidemiologist uses TikTok to inform about COVID-19

  Aug 25, 2021 9:15 am

  Katrine Wallace, known as "Dr. Kat," is a UIC epidemiologist who is also a TikTok influencer. She has been using her platform to dispell myths and provide facts about COVID-19 and vaccines.

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  Fast, cheap COVID-19 antibody test developed

  Jan 25, 2021 3:00 pm

  Researchers in Urbana-Champaign have developed a simple, fast, cost-efficient COVID-19 testing system. The test demonstrates great potential for wide applications in diverse working environments.

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  Citizen science project explores causes, solutions to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

  Jun 3, 2021 1:30 pm

  With funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Prevention Research Centers, the UIC School of Public Health is launching a project to better understand the multi-faceted causes of vaccine hesitancy across different communities and the best interventions to improve vaccine confidence and uptake. 

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  UI Health establishes Post-COVID Clinic

  Sep 1, 2021 8:00 am

  A clinic at UI Health is now supporting patients who experience ongoing symptoms weeks and months after having COVID-19, a condition often referred to as “Long COVID.”

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  Maps show the need for racial equity In Chicago’s road to COVID-19 recovery

  Apr 24, 2021 12:00 pm

  The Mapping COVID-19 Recovery Project is the collaborative effort of 25 major Chicago foundations, nonprofit organizations, and public and private groups, including the Field Foundation of Illinois, the MacArthur Foundation, the city’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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  How misinformation about COVID-19 spreads in rural areas

  Oct 25, 2021 1:00 pm

  A team at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign is investigating how misinformation about COVID-19 spreads in rural areas of the state.

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  Pharmacies go on hiring sprees

  Feb 10, 2021 12:15 pm

  Maurice Shaw, pharmicist and instructor for the UIC College of Pharmacy, signed on to give out vaccines on weekends in addition to his full-time job, after receiving a flurry of pitches for help. (New York Times)

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  Culture shapes willingness to share personal data to reduce COVID-19 spread

  Jan 27, 2021 8:30 am

  Junghwan Kim, a graduate student in geography and geographic information science at UIUC, co-led a study of people’s attitudes toward sharing their geographic data with public health officials.   

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  How wearable AI could help you recover from covid

  Jun 9, 2021 8:00 am

  Funded by the National Institutes of Health, clinicians at UI Health have been conducting a study with digital-medicine startup PhysIQ to do remote monitoring of COVID-19 patients. 

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  UI Health offering vaccines to people in Phase 1B

  Feb 1, 2021 10:15 am

  UI Health is administering vaccinations to patients and some members of the public on the UIC campus by appointment.

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  UIC selected to lead Illinois-based team for U.S. RECOVER consortium

  Jul 16, 2021 2:45 pm

  UIC has been selected to lead an Illinois-based team for the U.S. RECOVER consortium. Dr. Jerrry Krishnan is a part of the team spearheading the efforts to bring health centers, community-based organizations and faith-based organizations in Chicago, Peoria, Rockford and Urbana together to form a network of state resources for a directory that can be available to people with long COVID-19.

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  Wall Street Journal: COVID-19 testing could be a viable long-term business bet

  Jun 7, 2021 8:00 am

  The University of Illinois System, SHIELD Illinois and Shield T3 are featured in a Wall Street Journal Story about how COVID-19 testing could remain a key component for resuming normal life in the U.S.

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  DPI & CDPH system to monitor COVID-19 in Chicago wastewater extended for two years

  Dec 21, 2021 12:00 pm

  The Discovery Partners Institute, part of the University of Illinois System, and the Chicago Department of Public Health have announced the citywide system to monitor the virus that causes COVID-19 and its variants in wastewater will continue for two years, leveraging $2.14 million in federal funding.

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  UIS, Community Health Roundtable to host webinar on lasting effects of COVID-19

  Jun 18, 2021 12:00 pm

  The University of Illinois Springfield Innovation Hub, the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership and the Community Health Roundtable will host a free public webinar titled “The Lasting Effects of COVID-19 on Patients, the Health Care System and the World."

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  Protective role sex steroids play

  Nov 24, 2020 1:30 pm

  A new paper from a UIC researcher shows evidence that suggests sex steroids may play a role in protecting against COVID-19 symptoms.

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  Ways to reduce COVID-19 risks in dental offices

  Nov 29, 2021 12:15 pm

  According to a UIC study, adding a small amount of hydrogen peroxide to the water in ultrasonic scalers used to clean teeth can help mitigate the risk of spreading airborne diseases, including COVID-19, in clinical dental environments. 

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  Paper-based detection sensor

  Dec 4, 2020 3:45 pm

  An Urbana-Champaign bioengineering graduate student has co-developed a rapid, ultrasensitive test using a paper-based electrochemical sensor that can detect the presence of the virus in less than five minutes. 

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  UIC experts part of vaccine work group

  Jan 15, 2021 1:45 pm

  Several UIC faculty are members of the Chicago Scientific COVID-19 Vaccine Work Group. This group, convened by the Chicago Department of Public Health, is tasked with independently evaluating whether or not the proper scientific and regulatory review has taken place for authorizing emergency use for COVID-19 vaccines.

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  Safer Community app has roots in U of I testing program

  Feb 10, 2021 12:30 pm

  William Sullivan, a professor of landscape architecture at UIUC, led the team that developed the Safer Illinois app. Since 1992, he said his focus at the university has been on how to create healthier cities. 

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  UIC tests Cook County Jail wastewater to catch early outbreaks

  Mar 5, 2021 8:00 am

  On a recent morning, a UIC team, accompanied by doctors from the jail's Cermak Health Services and the Chicago Department of Health, showed NBC5 how they take samples from sewers at six different sites inside the jail complex.

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  IDPH expands COVID-19 testing to elementary schools

  Jun 10, 2021 8:45 am

  To help ensure schools can more safely resume in-person learning, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced it is expanding access to no-cost and low-cost COVID-19 testing to elementary schools across Illinois.  Schools can choose to utilize the saliva-based covidSHIELD test developed by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

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  Pop-up Rantoul testing clinics

  Dec 2, 2020 1:45 pm

  An interdisciplinary team of scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is working with clinicians and community researchers to expand access to COVID-19 testing by providing pop-up testing clinics for agricultural workers and others at various locations in Rantoul, Illinois.

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  Developing therapeutic intervention for respiratory diseases like COVID-19

  Dec 14, 2021 9:30 am

  Through the support of the American Lung Association, a UIUC bioengineering professor is developing a therapeutic intervention for respiratory diseases like COVID-19 by engineering commensal microbes to produce & deliver treatment at the infection site.

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  UIS hosts webinar on "Getting our Lives Back"

  Mar 10, 2021 10:15 am

  The University of Illinois Springfield Innovation Hub and UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership will host a free public COVID-19 webinar titled “Getting our Lives Back: The Opportunities that Lie Ahead” at Noon Friday, March 12 via Zoom.

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  Saliva test being expanded in Champaign-Urbana community

  Mar 24, 2021 10:15 am

  OSF HealthCare announced a new partnership with the University of Illinois Tuesday that will expand the U of I’s saliva-based COVID-19 test into the broader Champaign-Urbana community.

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  UIC to research long COVID-19 with $22 million from the NIH

  Apr 7, 2022 9:30 am

  A team of University of Illinois Chicago researchers is projected to receive approximately $22 million from the National Institutes of Health over four years to research long COVID-19. 

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  Study maps COVID-19 health disparities in Greater Santiago

  Apr 27, 2021 1:00 pm

  People up to age 40 living in economically depressed municipalities in the Greater Santiago, Chile, metropolitan area were three times more likely to die as a result of the infection than their counterparts in wealthier areas, researchers report in the journal Science. 

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  Study finds green spaces linked to lower racial disparity in COVID-19 infection rates

  Apr 28, 2021 8:15 am

  A higher ratio of green spaces at the county level is associated with a lower racial disparity in coronavirus infection rates, according to a new study. 

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  Phase 3 monoclonal antibody clinical trial

  Oct 29, 2020 2:00 pm

  Researchers at UIC are now enrolling people into a phase 3 clinical trial that will test if a monoclonal antibody treatment will help protect uninfected individuals from acquiring or getting sick from COVID-19 after someone in the household tests positive for COVID-19.

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  New mobile COVID-19 lab prototype

  Nov 6, 2020 1:00 pm

  The Grainger College of Engineering at UIUC has completed the prototype for a mobile laboratory designed to demonstrate a way to rapidly deploy the saliva-based test for COVID-19 developed at the university.

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  Neighborhoods and death rates

  Dec 3, 2020 1:45 pm

  A new study led by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago has found that Chicago neighborhoods with barriers to social distancing, including limited access to broadband internet and low rates of health insurance, had more COVID-19 deaths in spring 2020. 

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  Vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers

  Dec 6, 2021 3:30 pm

  According to a new study by UIC researchers, approximately 3 in 20 health care workers surveyed reported being hesitant about getting their COVID-19 vaccinations. 

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  First vaccine doses in Chicago

  Dec 15, 2020 12:45 pm

  Five front-line medical workers, including UI Health's Dr. Marina Del Rios, received the vaccine against COVID-19 in Chicago on Tuesday, December 15, marking an important milestone in the fight against the coronavirus.

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  Models predict optimal airplane seating for reduced viral transmission

  Dec 21, 2021 12:15 pm

  A new study led by a UIUC computer science professor and aviation risk expert calculated the optimal ways to seat passengers on airplanes based on the most recent data on aerosol transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19.

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  UIUC researchers look to duck antibodies to help fight next pandemic

  Feb 13, 2023 11:00 am

  Could an analysis of ducks’ antibodies help engineer new therapeutics for humans, and potentially develop tools to fight the next pandemic? A team including many UIUC scientists has been tasked with finding out.

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  Study: 2% of asymptomatic pediatric dental patients test positive for COVID-19

  Apr 26, 2021 1:00 pm

  A study by a University of Illinois Chicago pediatric dentist has shown a novel way to track potential COVID-19 cases — testing children who visit the dentist. The study also showed an over 2% positivity rate for the asymptomatic children tested. 

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  COVID-19 research on wastewater systems to track pandemics

  Oct 25, 2022 12:45 pm

  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $1,000,000 in research grant funding to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to improve wastewater monitoring to rapidly detect the emergence and spread of infectious disease in the current COVID-19 pandemic, and to detect other pathogens that could cause future pandemics.

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  Clinical trials for blood clot prevention

  Nov 18, 2020 1:30 pm

  UIC will conduct three clinical trials for studying blood clot prevention in patients with COVID-19. Blood clots are one of the leading complications of COVID-19.

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  Economic impact of COVID-19

  Dec 1, 2020 1:45 pm

  Kenneth Kritz, distinguished professor of public administration at UIS, examines the economic impact of the pandemic on the United States economy.

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  SHIELD Illinois launches free testing site at DePaul's Loop Campus

  Jan 18, 2022 4:30 pm

  SHIELD Illinois, the University of Illinois System’s in-state, non-profit COVID-testing unit, is partnering with DePaul University and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) to launch a free community testing site at DePaul’s Loop Campus.

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  Illinois tax revenue losses lower than expected during pandemic

  Jan 26, 2021 11:00 am

  The pandemic hit state tax revenues hard last spring when a widely restrictive stay-at-home order was in effect, but much of that early loss was recovered in subsequent months, according to the report from the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs.

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  This is the safest place in Illinois

  Feb 4, 2021 8:15 am

  How the U of I developed its own COVID-19 test and deployed it more than a million times (and counting).

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  UIS hosts webinar on impact of COVID-19 on youth

  Feb 18, 2021 8:45 am

  The UIS Innovation Hub, UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership and the Community Health Roundtable will host a free public webinar titled “Impact of COVID-19 on our Youth: Learning, Playing & Socializing” at Noon Friday, Feb. 19 via Zoom.

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  Volunteers help Chicago residents without internet connect to COVID-19 vaccines

  Mar 23, 2021 10:30 am

  A UIC computer science student created a volunteer group on Facebook aimed at helping individuals from Chicago's Black and brown communities book vaccine appointments online.

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  Program innovates to help prisoners continue to learn during COVID

  Apr 13, 2021 10:15 am

  UIUC's Education Justice Project was able to keep some of its prison courses going through paper correspondence and video instruction during the pandemic, when online learning was not an option.

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  Researchers scour Twitter to analyze public attitudes about COVID-19 vaccinations

  May 2, 2022 1:15 pm

  A new study from the University of Illinois Chicago examines key themes and topics from almost three million COVID-19 vaccine-related tweets posted by individuals and explores the trends and variations in public opinions and sentiments about vaccines and vaccination programs

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  Study: Black girls’ health ‘heavily impacted’ by COVID

  May 2, 2022 1:15 pm

  The physical, psychological and sexual development of Black adolescent girls has been “heavily impacted” by the COVID-19 pandemic, said UIC College of Nursing assistant professor Natasha Crooks, PhD, RN.