Specialists win award to examine why COVID-19 patients lose their feeling of smell Kumar Jeetendra | July 22, 2020 “The virus frequently begins in the nose prior to making its way to the lungs,” stated Diego Restrepo, PhD, professor of developmental and cell biology in the University of Colorado School of Medicine whose lab won the $125,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health late last month. “We believe this may spark an inflammatory …