<
https://www.doherty.edu.au/articles/the-scientists-who-led-the-world-in-understanding-covid-19/>
"When the first lockdowns began in Melbourne in March 2020, a city of more than
five million fell abruptly silent. Offices closed. Trams ran almost empty. Only
a scattering of essential workers moved through the streets. It was a strange
and uncertain time.
“I cycled to work, and it was just surreal and calm,” recalls Dr Mike Catton,
then Deputy Director of the Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity and
head of the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL).
Describing Dr Catton as an essential worker is an understatement. It was his
team at the Doherty Institute that achieved a critical early breakthrough: they
were the first outside China to isolate and grow the COVID-19 virus in the lab,
only weeks after a cluster of unexplained pneumonia cases was reported in Wuhan
in December 2019.
The virus was grown from a patient sample that arrived at VIDRL on 24 January
2020, and by early February the world was learning of the scientists’
breakthrough.
“That was a real success story,” says Professor Sharon Lewin AO, Director of
the Doherty Institute. “It was a big deal, because until that moment, no one
had access to the virus itself, except for China.”
The team’s pivotal decision to share the cultivated virus internationally –
allowing labs around the world to begin developing tests, vaccines and
treatments – thrust the Doherty Institute into the international spotlight.
“Everybody wanted a piece of us,” says Dr Catton. “We held a big press
conference. Anyone that knows me knows how much I would have relished that –
not,” he jokes.
But this was no fleeting moment of attention. In the months and years that
followed, the Doherty would become central to Australia’s pandemic response."
Via Violet Blue’s/Threat Model - Covid/: May 7, 2026
https://www.patreon.com/posts/covid-may-7-2026-157584502
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
