Is Teamwork Still Possible during a Global Pandemic?

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”

Michael Jordan

We often hear it said that “science is a team effort.” In today’s world this is clearly a truism. Major breakthroughs in science cannot be accomplished without strong collaborations. The team approach to science really started in the mid- to late 20th century. Before that time, laboratories operated, for the most part, as isolated entities. In academia, each faculty member or principal investigator did his or her own work, perhaps with the assistance of a technician and graduate student, but not in large groups of interdisciplinary teams that rely on core laboratories and the expertise of colleagues across scientific disciplines and geographical regions. Once the realization that systemic and organ physiology is intricately intertwined and that organismal physiology could only be advanced by understanding the genetic underpinning of normal and abnormal function, it was clear that one laboratory could not answer big, important questions.

In many cases, a team effort also means an international and global effort. The current COVID-19 pandemic highlights how fragile our academic institutions and personal interactions can be and how easy it is for the team effort to be disrupted, almost overnight. Stay-at-home orders have forced the shutdown of laboratories and core laboratories across the world. Vital administrative personnel are working from home, and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are working in isolation or delaying their education. As new students start their graduate education, laboratory rotations and bench research are different than expected, and certainly not optimal. Sure, innovation, creativity, and web-based meeting platforms have given us the ability to stay in touch, discuss important issues, and teach live classes “virtually.” But the spontaneity of what we do as scientists and academics has been lost over the past several months. While scientists spend a lot of time “thinking,” we also feed off each other in unpredictable ways. Sometimes this happens during casual discussions in the hallway or over lunch. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run into a colleague or student and discussed an idea that popped into his/her or my mind at the spur of the moment, literally during our discussion. Immediately, we went to the nearest white board and sketched out a mechanism, hypothesis, or pathway! Functions that were purposely designed to foster human interaction—whether it be in a conference room, at international meetings, or at the bench—have been cancelled, and this leaves a void. There is an intangible quality to interacting face to face with colleagues, faculty, trainees, and administrators that will never be replaced by a web meeting.

In the short term, staying at home has given faculty the opportunity to catch up on writing and planning. Manuscript submissions are increasing (at least based on our experience at the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology), and I predict there will be a record number of grant submissions in the coming months. Lemonade can be made out of lemons. In the long run, however, there will undoubtedly be a decrease in productivity due in large part to the disruption of the team effort.

So, what are investigators and their trainees to do under these unprecedented circumstances? It has become clear that many laboratories in academia and in industry have jumped on the opportunity to carry out SARS-CoV-2-related research in the hope of understanding the virus and its targets. Research into novel treatments and vaccines is vitally important and can keep funding coming into laboratories. Most laboratories, however, are not conducting research in the area of infectious diseases or inflammation. We certainly owe a debt of appreciation to the National Institutes of Health and other funding agencies that have been incredibly flexible on rules for dealing with budgets, downtime, and deadlines for progress reports and, in some cases, extending the time for grant submissions. Likewise, most universities have implemented rules for how people work under isolation guidelines. Some work can get done. I strongly encourage investigators, their staff, and students to stay on task, but to follow strict distancing and hygiene guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They need to continue working toward the laboratory goals and make the environment as normal as possible. Students and trainees can feel especially cutoff from their teams during this pandemic. While connection by video conferencing is okay, investigators should try to physically meet with students using social-distancing practices. There is a big psychological difference between standing six feet away versus video conferencing. More than ever, always be accessible to trainees and staff. Here’s an idea: schedule a laboratory work in progress, journal club, or other meeting outside with appropriate social distancing (Fig. 1) in warm weather. Make no mistake about it, there is no way we can go back to “normal” until the pandemic is over, most likely with the advent of a safe and effective vaccine that is distributed globally and inexpensively. Developing such a vaccine will take an unprecedented level of teamwork among scientists, governments, science administrators, technicians, and suppliers. The science pipeline is vast, and we will only move forward with the highest level of teamwork we have ever seen. Scientific progress today will be a trade-off between personal safety and the desire to collect laboratory data. But let’s be smart and do the things that work, while keeping us and our colleagues safe.

Fig. 1.

Laboratory directors and principal investigators will do their trainees and staff a service by holding meetings outdoors during good weather. Bring drinks and food, but stay safe.

Pandemics have existed since the beginning of recorded history. Some have lasted years and some months. In the meantime, basic and clinical scientists must support logically based guidelines for getting work done, diverting our pre-COVID laboratory teamwork to other creative forms of teamwork that support our research and training missions to the best of our abilities. We can do it! As the great New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra said, “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

DISCLOSURES

No conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared by the author.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

I.H.Z. prepared figure; drafted manuscript; and edited, revised, and approved final version of manuscript.