The rigorous schedule for testing for the novel coronavirus continues on the Tulane campuses this spring. Students are required to participate in ongoing surveillance testing throughout the semester regardless of vaccine status or the presence of antibodies from a previous COVID-19 infection. Masking and social distancing guidelines are also still in effect. The COVID-19 Dashboard on the Tulane website tracks the results of the testing, both positive and negative, for students, faculty and staff. Active cases, including students in isolation in Paterson Hall and the Jung Hotel and in…

“This event promises to be an exciting and engaging literary gathering for our local, national and Tulane communities. We can’t wait to welcome authors and book lovers to campus.”

Five students will receive a total of $100,000 for their work in promoting racial equity, justice or diversity initiatives as the first recipients of the Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Scholarship. The scholarship, a part of Tulane’s A Plan for Now, was established through a personal donation of President Michael A. Fitts and his wife, Renée J. Sobel, Esq. The recipients will receive funds between $8,000 and $10,000 per year through the scholarship, which will be renewed each semester.

President Michael A. Fitts announced Louisiana Promise, a new initiative that will make a Tulane undergraduate degree more accessible and affordable for Louisiana residents from low- and middle-income families and increase access to higher education for all students in New Orleans. New programs associated with the initiative include debt-free financial awards, a pre-college summer program and a new college preparatory center.

Two former Green Wave football players — Ryan Griffin and Thakarius “BoPete” Keyes — were on teams that made it to the NFL Super Bowl championship in February. Former Tulane quarterback Griffin, in his sixth year in the NFL, was part of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl LV team, serving as third-string backup quarterback to Tom Brady. Griffin spent his first two professional seasons on the New Orleans Saints’ practice squad. In his rookie season in the NFL, cornerback Keyes is on the Kansas City Chiefs team.

Andrea Boyles, associate professor of sociology and Africana studies at the School of Liberal Arts, has been appointed as a delegate to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, providing expertise on such issues as reproductive health and violence against women. Boyles is serving on the council in her capacity as secretary for Sociologists for Women in Society, an organization that supports cutting-edge feminist research and promotes social justice through local, national and international activism.

Kendall Gardner, a graduate of the Class of 2020, won a George C. Marshall Scholarship, becoming the second Tulanian in two consecutive years to be honored with the award. (Praveena Fernes, featured in the fall 2020 Tulanian, won the award last year.) Marshall Scholarships are awarded annually to 40 recipients or fewer and provide support for young Americans to study for a graduate degree in the United Kingdom. Like Fernes, Gardner is going to London, where she will pursue master’s degrees in political theory and international social and public policy at the London School of Economics and…

Tulane researchers developed a 15-minute saliva-based COVID-19 test that is read by a smartphone. The assay platform developed by Tony Hu, Weatherhead Presidential Chair in Biotechnology Innovation at the School of Medicine, and associates can detect very small amounts of SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA in saliva by leveraging CRISPR, the revolutionary gene editing technology.

A study led by Monica Vaccari, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Tulane National Primate Research Center, suggests that in the early weeks of post-infection of COVID-19, the stronger the initial host immune response, the worse the disease outcome. While the body mounts a pro-inflammatory “innate” immune response as a first line of defense to protect against the spread of infection and heal damaged tissue, it is a dysregulated or over-reactive immune response that can cause severe damage, Vaccari’s study explains.

According to a new study by the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice at Tulane, reopening K-12 schools in the U.S. did not result in an increase in hospitalizations due to COVID-19. Co-authors Douglas Harris, chair of the Department of Economics, and Engy Ziedan, assistant professor of economics, found no evidence that reopening schools in-person or in a hybrid form increased COVID-19 hospitalizations in the 75 percent of counties that had low hospitalization rates during the summer prior to reopening schools.