Transferring and Sharing Knowledge

Why is it particularly important to be able to access knowledge and information quickly and easily in crisis situations? That was the question Dr. Bruce Walker of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard addressed in his keynote speech, “The Quest for a COVID-19 Vaccine and the Need for Agility in Life Sciences.”

Dr. Walker explained how his research facility leveraged its experience in HIV protection to inform its research into a COVID-19 vaccine. The address was moderated by Dr. Anthony Fauci, consultant to U.S. President Trump and now world-renowned Head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. During his address, Dr. Walker expertly illustrated how scientists working to fight COVID-19 can refer back to findings from other vaccine programs in order to achieve faster results. The unprecedented speed at which COVID-19 research is progressing is only possible because this knowledge – or this data – is available to research scientists.