The PolyBio Research Foundation has announced a $15 million gift from Kanro, a philanthropic fund established by Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, to support scientific research.

The gift will support a second phase of research and clinical trials via the LongCovid Research Consortium (LCRC), a global scientific collaboration to rapidly and openly study core biological drivers of Long COVID. LCRC also will launch clinical trials of affordable generic drugs to target persistent virus. At the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, an expanded tissue biopsy program will enable researchers to better understand where SARS-CoV-2 may be hiding in clinical trial participants. Funding also will support Long COVID medical clinic development to rapidly translate LCRC research and clinical trial findings into much-needed patient care through collaboration with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“The fact that every new SARS-CoV-2 infection may have the potential to become chronic and cause devastating illness is perhaps the single most concerning aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said PolyBio chief scientific officer Amy Proal. “Only by working rapidly and collaboratively can we truly determine how to prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2 persistence.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/gorodenkoff)