Addressing the ongoing developments and challenges for public health related to the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the European Society of Radiology (ESR) will be hosting a top-class online event on the disease on March 12, featuring Prof. Josef Penninger, a world-leading geneticist and immunologist.

Despite the postponement of the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) 2020, the ESR remains fully committed to supporting the fight against COVID-19 through science and research. For this reason, the session on COVID-19 will be made available to all, streamed live and free-of-charge from the ESR studio in Vienna on Thursday, March 12 at 17:00 CET.

The event will feature the lecture, “ACE2 – a rational frontline therapy for COVID-19” given by Austrian scientist Prof. Josef Penninger, one of the world’s leading geneticists and molecular immunologists. He will aim to shed light on the discovery and function of ACE2 (angiotensin converting enzyme 2) and will also cover the relationship between ACE2 and the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), a hormone system responsible for systemic vascular resistance and for regulating blood pressure and fluid-electrolyte balance in instances of lung injury. He will highlight the predisposition of ACE2 as a SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 receptor and therefore as a potential treatment approach.

A recipient of numerous prestigious prizes, Penninger established the Viennese Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, and is the current Director of the Life Sciences Institute at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. The main focus of his work has been autoimmune, bone, heart and lung diseases, and cancers. APEIRON Biologics AG, a company Penninger founded, is currently tackling the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 in China and started a pilot clinical trial for their newly developed drug that is supposed to decrease mortality in those affected by the virus.
The session at the ESR Studio will be hosted by Austrian radiologist, Prof. Christian Loewe and will include the opportunity for viewers to ask live questions. For further details about the session, click here.

The decision to make this event publicly available is in keeping with the ESR’s continued commitment to bringing the latest scientific developments to its members and the public. During these challenging times, not only for the ESR and ECR but also for the world over, the society wishes to help in any way it can to fight the coronavirus outbreak, and its commitment to science and public health remains its No.1 priority.

The online event will be streamed live via ESR Connect. You can register for the event now by clicking here.