Modeling of COVID-19 in vitro and in silico

The new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 emerged in December 2019 in China and spread to several countries, causing an acute respiratory disease called COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019). COVID-19 can evolve into severe respiratory infections resulting in a high death rate for individuals over 60 and also patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020. At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is expanding globally, we saw the opportunity to contribute our expertise in two distinct but closely related strands with research projects developed by our group: 1) development of a platform to model SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro using 3D bioprinting; and 2) production of an in silico model for studies of the spread of contagion by SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil. We propose a multidimensional study that aims to provide tools that can be used for in vitro studies of infection and drug tests, and an in silico model for assessing and predicting the impact of COVID-19. Once validated, the in vitro models will be available for use by researchers who are interested in studying mechanisms of pulmonary and cerebral infection, new treatments to combat infection by SARS-CoV-2, among other possibilities. The in silico modeling of the COVID-19 pandemic may be an important tool for the establishment of public policies to face the pandemic, both in aspects of collective health and in the mitigation of social and economic impacts.