OHIO students gain incomparable experience researching new ways to battle COVID amid pandemic Published: February 24, 2021 Author: Samantha Pelham Graduate Student Md. Ismail Hossain works in Dr. Jennifer Hines Lab.
When six Ohio University students began their educational careers, none of them thought that before entering the workforce they would be faced with one of the world’s biggest challenges – a global pandemic.
As in-person learning turned virtual, experiential learning in labs seemed to be a faraway opportunity, however, in a few short months these students would not only be back in a lab safely researching, but helping publish an important study on ways to battle COVID.
Ben Siegel/Ohio University From left, From left, Hannah Boesger, Emily Marino, Mason Myers, Ali Aldhumani, Dr. Jennifer Hines, Ismail Hossain, and Emily Fairchild.
While the world awaits broad distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, researchers at Ohio University just published highly significant and timely results in the search for another way to stop the virus by disrupting its RNA and its ability to reproduce.
Dr. Jennifer Hines, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, along with graduate and undergraduate students in her lab, published the first structural biology analysis of a section of the COVID-19 viral RNA called the stem-loop II motif. This is a non-coding section of the RNA, which means that it is not translated into a protein, but it is likely key to the virus s replication.