Biomedical/Biotechnology research and development has already improved society in significant ways and with the rapid advancement of science and technology, it is poised to make an even larger impact. From medical applications such as the treatment and prevention of genetic and previously incurable diseases to tackling world hunger and the reduction of our carbon footprint to holistically managing human, animal and environmental health, biomedicine/biotechnology research has the potential to improve the quality of life for millions of people.

Monitoring COVID-19 Mortality and Morbidity

One of the largest public health challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic is the lack of an accurate picture of the direct and indirect mortality burden from COVID-19. UNIC and its Medical School, alongside their research collaborators, devised the sort of global-scale project needed to address this international problem, launching the COVID-19 Mortality (C-MOR) Consortium.

The Consortium has grown to include 58 institutions across 6 continents and 52 countries.
C-MOR monitors overall and cause-specific mortality resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a dedicated, truly global, reference dataset from which important evidence-based knowledge can be gleaned for policymakers and healthcare professionals.

The Consortium has already published key results which analyse excess mortality and potential years of life lost from the first year of the pandemic. The results represent
some of the largest and most expansive studies of their kind, utilising predominantly national and primary sources. Currently, the Consortium is focusing on the investigation
of the magnitude and determinants of excess all-cause and cause-specific mortality during 2020 and 2021, in service of aiding the response to the recent pandemic and future
ones.

Publications:

1. Premature Mortality Attributable to COVID-19: Potential Years of Life Lost in 17 Countries Around the World, January-August 2020. Ugarte MP, et al.; C-MOR Consortium. BMC Public Health. 2022 Jan 9;22(1):54. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-12377-1.
2. Excess All-cause Mortality and COVID-19-related Mortality: A Temporal Analysis in 22 Countries, From January until August 2020. Achilleos S, et al. Int J Epidemiol. 2022 Feb 18;51(1):35-53. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyab123.
3. Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Total, Sex- and agespecific All-cause Mortality in 20 Countries Worldwide During 2020: Results from the C-MOR Project. Demetriou CA, et al. Int J Epidemiol. 2022 Aug 27:dyac170. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyac170.