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How the COVID pandemic is changing global science collaborations

The pandemic and political tensions might slow the march towards more globalized science.
  1. Brendan Maher
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  2. Richard Van Noorden
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Cartoon showing two researchers wearing masks on a video call, elbow-bumping through the screen.

Illustration by Fabio Buonocore

In February 2020, as early COVID outbreaks were expanding in many countries, Nevan Krogan was grappling with a different kind of surge — in the size of his research collaboration. Krogan, a systems biologist, had been focused on tackling pressing issues in biology and health by forming interdisciplinary collaborations through the Quantitative Bioscience Institute (QBI) at the University of California, San Francisco. His colleagues were eager to work on the new coronavirus — and they soon had lots of company.

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Nature 594, 316-319 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01570-2

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