Learn how the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine is working to solve the COVID-19 crisis

Laboratory testing conducted in our department is key to identifying COVID-19 infection, monitoring disease and response to treatment, and ensuring health. Our research discovers new knowledge that is critical to improving understanding of this novel virus and helps us create new and better approaches and tools, such as more accurate tests and effective therapies and vaccines.

Here are some of our many contributions that are helping the world learn how to address this new disease.

Established our own COVID-19 testing capabilities

We set up and validated our own testing capabilities to run hundreds of test each day and are using it to help others in the region. Our lab team members were named to the Governor’s Task Force for COVID-19 testing.

Organizations interested in arranging COVID-19 testing from our laboratory can submit a formal request at this link: https://ucdavis.health/COVIDLab

Expanding testing across California

UC Davis and UC San Diego are partnering to create COVID-19 testing hubs throughout the state of California. Department faculty have helped transform a research lab into a pop-up clinical laboratory.

Bringing new treatments to patients

Our transfusion medicine faculty are leaders in an expanded access protocol approved by the US Food & Drug Administration to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients with plasma donated by previously infected patients.

Testing and validating novel vaccines

Pre-clinical testing of immune response from VaxiPatch, a single-dose dermal patch with a metal microneedle array to deliver vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, is taking place at the Mouse Biology Program under the guidance of the lead veterinarian and scientist who is a member of our department.

Sharing unique clinical findings

Our hematopathology team describe unusual hematologic findings in the first community-acquired COVID-19 infection in a report published in the American Journal of Hematology.