The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, which began in Wuhan, China in December 2019, has spread worldwide. With increasing threats of viral outbreak toward the end of March in Japan, medical staff at Keio University Hospital has been dedicating themselves to care for patients. Health care systems in many countries such as Italy, Spain, UK, and the US have been ravaged due to the exponential growth of COVID-19 patients and the shortage of personal protective equipment. Prompted by their concern for the similar crisis and desire to help, research projects started to be built under the leadership of the top officials of Keio university, Tsutomu Takeuchi (Rheumatology, Vice-President), Masayuki Amagai (Dermatology, Dean of the School of Medicine), and Yuko Kitagawa (Surgery, Hospital Director General). The purpose of the research projects was to clarify the mechanism of COVID-19 disease, increase diagnostic test capacity, and develop effective therapeutic options. Recognizing its original core values, Keio University held its first COVID-19 strategic meeting on April 2nd, where clinical and basic scientists discussed how to deliver their expertise and strengths to meet the current needs of the society. Projects on developing neutralizing antibody detection system and convalescent plasma therapy were launched from the initial meeting, and as it unfolded, other projects developed, such as the epidemiological project and the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome sequencing project. The COVID-19 research team now consists of more than 150 people, and a Web Meeting has been held on a weekly basis, with updates and progress being reported from each project. The aforementioned projects were collectively named as “Keio Donner Project” by our dean, Dr. Masayuki Amagai.
“Keio Donner Projects” was set out to face the outbreak of COVID-19, and aims to 1) remind ourselves of how and where Keio University Hospital started with our founder Sibasaburo Kitasato, 2) accelerate the research on infection, immunity, and inflammation, and 3) to nurture human resources. Our current approaches to develop neutralizing antibodies and convalescent plasma therapy root back to Dr. Kitasato, who discovered and established the diphtheria antitoxin serum therapy. At that time, medical students learned the German language. Dr. Kitasato was called “Donner sensei” by his students who had a feeling of awe and respect for him. The word “der Donner” in German means thunder. Returning to the starting point has stimulated scientists at Keio to work as one team to unravel the new coronavirus disease. Here are some of the active projects.