Advances in Clinical Immunology, Medical Microbiology, COVID-19, and Big Data

Raj Bawa, MS, PhD, MD, is president of Bawa Biotech LLC (founded in 2002), a biotech/pharma consultancy and patent law firm based in Ashburn, Virginia, USA. Trained as a microbiologist and biochemist, he is an inventor, author, entrepreneur, professor, and registered patent agent (since 2002) licensed to practice before the US Patent & Trademark Office. He is currently a scientific advisor to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (Israel), a visiting research scholar at the Pharmaceutical Research Institute of Albany College of Pharmacy (Albany, NY), and vice president/chief IP officer at Guanine, Inc. (Rensselaer, NY). He has served as a principal investigator of various research grants, most recently as a principal investigator of a CDC grant to develop an assay for carbapenemase resistant bacteria. He was an adjunct professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) from 1998 to 2018. After earning a BSc (Honors School) in microbiology, he earned a MS (cancer biology), a PhD biophysics/biochemistry) and an MD. In the 1990s, Dr. Bawa held various positions at the US Patent & Trademark Office, including primary examiner from 1996–2002. Presently, he is a life member of Sigma Xi, cochair of the nanotech and precision medicine committees of the American Bar Association and founding director of the American Society for Nanomedicine (established in 2008). He has authored over 100 publications, edited 8 texts, and serves on the editorial boards of numerous peer-reviewed journals, including serving as an associate editor of Nanomedicine (Elsevier).

• 1. SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: A Perspective Section 1 Clinical Immunology 2. Specific Reactivity of Anti-Citrullinated Protein Antibodies to Citrullinated Peptides Associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis 3. Complement Activation, Immunogenicity, and Immune Suppression as Potential Side Effects of Liposomes 4. Human Clinical Relevance of the Porcine Model of Pseudoallergic Infusion Reactions 5. Myelin Antigens and Antimyelin Antibodies 6. Advances in the Understanding of the Inflammatory Milieu and Its Correlations with Neurological Disorders 7. Role of Ligustrum in Allergic Disease 8. Protective or Detrimental? The Role of Host Immunity in Leishmaniasis 9. Personalized Nanomedicines for Treatment of Autoimmune Disease 10. Intracellular Antibody Immunity and Its Applications 11. Maternal Antibody Interference Contributes to Reduced Rotavirus Vaccine Efficacy in Developing Countries Section 2 Medical Microbiology 12. Reflections on 40 Years of AIDS 13. Formation and Maturation of the Oral Microbiota 14. Could the Environment Affect the Mutation of H1N1 Influenza Virus? 15. Current Perspectives in Medical Microbiology 16. Bacterial Virulence Plays a Crucial Role in Methicillin-Resistant S. aureus Sepsis 17. Where Cancer and Bacteria Meet 18. Fungal Diseases as Neglected Pathogens: A Wake-Up Call to Public Health Officials 19. Catch the Wave: Metabolomic Analyses in Human Pathogenic Fungi 20. The Unmet Medical Need for Trypanosoma cruzi-Infected Patients: Monitoring the Disease Status 21. Present and Future of Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae Infections 22. Human Plague: An Old Scourge That Needs New Answers Section 3 Biologics, Human Tissues, and Blood Products 23. Human Brain/Cloud Interface 24. Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery: What Is New, and What Is Next? 25. Now the Future, We See Our Dreams: Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery 26. Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Meet the COVID-19 Pandemic: Potential Applications and Promises 27. Paradigm Shift in Medicinal Chemistry towards Data-Driven Approaches 28. The Importance of Proper Statistical Methods in Developing Robust Predictive Models Using Chemodescriptors and Biodescriptors in the Twenty First Century 29. Fit-for-Purpose?—Challenges and Opportunities for Applications of Blockchain Technology in the Future of Healthcare 30. mHealth Approach to Clinics in Rural Settings in Nutrition Counseling 31. Ten Simple Rules for Engaging with Artificial Intelligence in Biomedicine 32. Five Key Aspects of Metaproteomics as a Tool to Understand Functional Interactions in Host Associated Microbiomes Section 4 Development and Use of FDA-approved Drugs for COVID-19 33. COVID-19: Hundred Questions and Answers for Healthcare Providers and the Public 34. SARS-CoV-2 Tropism, Entry, Replication, and Propagation: Considerations for Drug Discovery and Development 35. Presence of Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity against SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 Plasma 36. Performance of SARS-CoV-2 Serology Tests: Are They Good Enough? 37. Forecasting the Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 38. Pandemic Responses: Planning to Neutralize SARS-CoV-2 and Prepare for Future Outbreaks 39. Pandemic Preparedness and Responses: WHO to Turn to in a Crisis? 40. Links between Integrin αvβ3 and COVID-19: Impact on Vascular and Thrombotic Risk 41. The Ocular Surface and the Coronavirus Disease 2019: Does a Dual ‘Ocular Route’ Exist? 42. Exploring Links between Vitamin D Deficiency and COVID-19 43. Convalescent Serum Therapy for COVID-19: A 19th Century Remedy for a 21st Century Disease 44. Preexisting and Inducible Endotoxemia as Crucial Contributors to the Severity of COVID-19 Outcomes