Academic challenges during COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the university community with widespread partial or complete institutional shutdowns with disproportionate impact on the students with ongoing coursework and researchers engaged in wet lab experimental research. Anecdotal reports suggest that some researchers lost 1-6 months of their work due to the forced termination of the ongoing experiments, while others found years of work destroyed due to freezer malfunction and delayed notice during the lockdowns (Korbel & Stegle, 2020).