Project Title: IFN signature response and cytokine profiling of samples from hospitalized patients with respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease (COVID-19)
NIAID Principal Investigator: Raphaela Goldbach-Mansky M.D., M.H.S.
Chief, Translational Autoinflammatory Diseases Section, LCIM
Project Title: Analysis of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody responses
NIAID Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Cohen M.D.
Chief, Laboratory of Infectious Diseases
Chief, Medical Virology Section, LID
Project Title: Composition of T- and B-Cell Repertoire and Mapping of Virus-Specific T-Cell Receptor Sequences
NIAID Principal Investigator: Luigi Notarangelo, M.D.
Chief, Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology
Chief, Immune Deficiency Genetics Section, LCIM
Project Title: Genetic Determinants of Susceptibility to Severe COVID-19 Infection
NIAID Principal Investigator: Helen Su, M.D., Ph.D
Chief, Human Immunological Diseases Section, LCIM
The COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented public health crisis. At present, our narrow understanding of the immune system’s response to the infection limits our capacity to prevent and treat severe disease. As part of the efforts outlined in the NIAID Strategic Plan for COVID-19 Research, NIAID researchers are spearheading a large, international collaboration to unveil the innate and adaptive immune responses during acute COVID-19 infection and convalescence. Each researcher will contribute their unique expertise to collectively elucidate the innate and adaptive immune response to COVID-19 infection. This synergistic coalition of researchers will work closely and share data to maximize the impact of patient samples. The overall goal is to identify immunological and virological correlates and predictors of clinical outcomes.
The research projects will examine the following:
This website is designed to inform physicians of the research occurring at NIAID. If interested in contributing to any or all of these research projects, please reach out to the contact person on the respective project page.
As of September 2024, several projects including collaborative studies with external sites are still being pursued, but research activity has greatly diminished with the tailing off of the pandemic.
Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, isolated from a patient.
Researchers in the Human Immunological Diseases Section believe COVID-19 causes mild or no illness in some individuals and not others because of our genetic makeup. The lab will sequence and analyze the genomes of previously healthy patients who experienced severe or fatal COVID-19 infection.
The Immune Deficiency Genetics Section aims to analyze the dynamic changes that occur within an individual’s T-cell and B-cell repertoires during the transition from acute COVID-19 infection into convalescence.
The Translational Autoinflammatory Diseases Section will harness the power of Nanostring and RNA-Seq to measure and characterize the pro-inflammatory cytokine signature of COVID-19.
The Medical Virology Section is interested in performing serologic studies to better understand the epidemiology of COVID-19 in specific cohorts.
Researchers in the Immunopathogenesis Section believe that anti-cytokine antibodies that can neutralize antiviral cytokines may contribute to COVID-19 disease progression, as they do in other immune-mediated diseases.
The NIAID Microbiome Program and the Metaorganism Immunity Section propose that immune responses to the gut microbiota may predict which patients get very sick with COVID-19 while others remain asymptomatic.
The Multiscale Systems Biology Section will integrate computational approaches and several cutting-edge high-throughput methods to assess changes in the epigenome, transcriptome, and proteome throughout the course of COVID-19 disease.
The Virus Persistence and Dynamics Section will explore the intrapatient diversity of SARS-CoV-2 sequences using high-throughput, long-read, single-molecule sequencing.
The Systemic Autoimmunity Branch at NIAMS will study in detail the role of neutrophil dysregulation and NETs in the induction of enhanced proinflammatory responses, tissue damage, vasculopathy, and prothrombotic manifestations.
We seek hospitals to collaborate in our research project by submitting samples. For sample requirements, see the specific project pages.
These are original research publications using samples obtained from the NIAID COVID Consortium. Each paper addresses one or more of the scientific questions outlined in the project pages, with the goal of elucidating the immune response to COVID-19.
Patricia L Littel, R.N., (301) 402-5964
plittel@cc.nih.gov
Harry L Malech, M.D., (301) 480-6916
hmalech@nih.gov
Contact: Joanna L Peterson, (240) 760-6506
joanna.peterson@nih.gov
Contact: Harry L Malech, M.D., (301) 480-6916
hmalech@nih.gov
Merertu Tesso, (301) 402-7831
tessom@mail.nih.gov
Steven M Holland, M.D., (301) 402-7684
sholland@mail.nih.gov
Christine J Lafeer, R.N., (301) 761-6902
clafeer@niaid.nih.gov
Alexandra Freeman, M.D., (301) 594-9045
freemaal@mail.nih.gov