Participation in the COVID-19 NMR Project

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens the welfare of the entire world and thus requires a global research response that prioritizes cooperation and collaboration over competition. Here we want to outline the principles by which we will run the COVID-19 NMR Project to promote the rapid public dissemination of open science while also recognizing individual scientific contributions. 

1. Participation in a global scientific effort to combat COVID-19.
2. Receive RNA, protein, or plasmid samples from other participating labs.
3. Receive NMR protocols and pulse sequences for acquisition of data.
4. Have an opportunity to contribute to consortium publications reporting general progress.
5. Have an opportunity to publish specific results individually or in small groups.
6. Have an opportunity to pursue funding through the shared consortium efforts.

To enjoy these benefits, participants and the governing board agree to follow these rules and guidelines:

• When participants request a specific target RNA or protein from the consortium, it will be communicated to the entire consortium. If another participant already is working on that target, the participants will coordinate as a collaborative sub-group.
• When participants receive the consortium material, the expectation is that participants will prioritize these studies by allocating instrument and personnel time as soon as possible to collect and analyze the data.
• Participants will provide the governing board with short updates every 2 weeks by email sent to reports@covid19-nmr.de. Delays are part of research, but we need to know the status of all projects. If updates are not received after 2 weeks, the governing board will remind the participants. If more than 4 weeks pass without an update, the governing board will assume that the participant is no longer active and will reassign the target to other participants.
• Experimental data must be uploaded for deposition using the infrastructure provided through the COVID-19 NMR Project within a week of data collection.
• For participant sites performing screening, we strongly recommend that a Covid19-library assembled at BMRZ is purchased and included in the screen, so that results can be compared across screening labs. These screening results must be shared within a week of data collection. Participants may also wish to screen with additional libraries, and it is encouraged but not required to share these data with the consortium as well. Details about this library and the costs involved will be shared upon request. Send requests to Schwalbe@nmr.uni-frankfurt.de.

We strongly encourage collaboration within the COVID-19 NMR Project participants. If you have material, pulse sequences, or software to share, please offer it to the consortium. If someone reaches out to you wanting to help with a specific target molecule, please consider inviting them to a target sub-group to work collaboratively.