Jennifer Couzin-FrankelScience’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center and the Heising-Simons Foundation.Athena Akrami’s neuroscience lab reopened last month without her.
Life for the 38-year-old is a pale shadow of what it was before 17 March, the day she first experienced symptoms of the novel coronavirus.
At University College London (UCL), Akrami’s students probe how the brain organizes memories to support learning, but at home, she struggles to think clearly and battles joint and muscle pain. “I used to go to the gym three times a week,” Akrami says.