Understanding Coronavirus

Raul Rabadan is a Professor in the Departments of Systems Biology and Biomedical Informatics, and the Director of the Program for Mathematical Genomics, at Columbia University. From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Rabadan was a fellow at the Theoretical Physics Division at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2003 he joined the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He has been named one of Popular Science's Brilliant 10 (2010), a Stewart Trust Fellow (2013), and has received the Harold and Golden Lamport (2014), Diz Pintado (2018) and Phillip Sharp (2018) awards. Dr. Rabadan's current interest focuses on uncovering patterns of evolution in biological systems - in particular, RNA viruses and cancer. Dr. Rabadan is the founder of Genotwin, a data-driven genomic company.

• Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. How Is the Coronavirus Spreading?; 3. What Is a Coronavirus?; 4. How Is the Coronavirus Changing?; 5. How Did the COVID-19 Outbreak Start and Evolve?; 6. How Does the COVID-19 Outbreak Compare to the SARS Outbreak in 2003?; 7. How Does the COVID-19 Outbreak Compare to Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza?; 8. How Can We Treat the Virus and Prevent Infections?; Conclusions; Summary of Common Misunderstandings; Suggested Further Reading.

'With all the technology and medical knowledge of the 21st century a pandemic virus has defeated us. This book tells us why and how that could happen and what we can do about it. And as a bonus we get a comparison with the 1918 pandemic Flu. All this wrapped up in a clear, understandable and interesting way. We learn what is happening to us now and how to better prepare for the future.' Arnold J. Levine, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey