In this special episode, Amy and Emily speak to Caroline Jolley (King's College London, UK and King's College Hospital, UK), Dean Willis (University College London, UK) and Georgina Ellison-Hughes (King’s College London, UK) about the novel coronavirus. They discuss the role of physiologists in the COVID-19 crisis and explore some possible avenues for developing treatments for the disease, including drug repurposing and mesenchymal stem cell transplants.