ABSTRACT
With many unanswered questions about SARS-CoV-2, the research community needs to immediately prioritize research areas in the fight against the current COVID-19 pandemic. An accelerated and coordinated multidisciplinary research effort is needed from the wider scientific community in many sectors from vaccine and antiviral development to digital technology. This mini-review highlights key research opportunities such as vaccine development, diagnostics, antiviral masks, environmental transmission and antiviral treatments, and outlines how systematic efforts can be focused in these key areas. Some alternate strategies such as the use of novel nanostructured surfaces to slow and prevent the spread of COVID-19 are presented. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.