A Princeton native is helping fight the COVID-19 pandemic by using computers from two area school districts to conduct much-needed research on the new strain of the virus.
Brian Gupton, CEO of Dataseam, tells the News Edge his company has been helping researchers at the University of Louisville with cancer research since 2003.
Gupton adds the proof of the concept began with the Caldwell County Public Schools district in 2004 and was adopted by the Trigg County Public Schools district a year later. He says the Cadiz Rotary Club was very instrumental in donating the funding needed for the first computer lab that linked to the Dataseam program in the fall of 2005.
He adds students who attend schools that participate are eligible for the Dataseam Scholars Program which has historically been funded by the University of Louisville and Morehead State University.
Gupton says the although the research has shifted to COVID-19, the latest strain of the coronavirus, the researchers at the University of Louisville are still trying to find medicines that can be used to help treat positive patients.
There are two approaches the Dataseam team is using to continue their research.
John Trent, Ph.D., deputy director of basic and translational research at the University of Louisville Health James Graham Brown Cancer Center says the second part of the process could take anywhere from 12 to 18 months before they would even think of testing the vaccines in a patient.
Trent adds, so far, the process has identified 30 drugs as potentially effective against COVID-19 with biological testing expected to begin at any moment. The testing will be completed at the University of Louisville Center for Predictive Medicine for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, which is one of only a few labs in the United States capable of testing drugs against the virus.
Gupton adds he is very appreciative of the Caldwell and Trigg County school districts since they have been a part of the program since the inception. He says the program is truly making a difference.
The grid is a very unique infrastructure and allows UofL to be more competitive for federal funding with their efforts for cancer drug discovery and now COVID-19 drug research.
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