53 projects
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Domain
Organization Type
Comparing the technical performances of three real-time PCR protocols to counteract the COVID-19 ...
The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infections has underlined the critical value of laboratory diagnosis in order to quickly identify infected-patients, to provide optimized care, and to limit COVID-19 transmission. Several real-time RT-PCR diagnostic assays were rapidly developped, in particular by pharmaceutical companies which were Conformité Européenne (CE) marked. Since all countries are currently facing reagent shortages that limit the testing capacity, several real-time PCR assays were established to counteract the COVID-19 outbreak by using different techniques and suppliers, such as in Lu...
Development of a high performance COVID-19 immunoassay to assess population-based viral immunity
The current situation of lock-down in many countries creates a strong need for large screening efforts in order to assess the immune status of the population and to advice decision makers on measures to relaunch social and economic activites. Due to the need for serological testing on high numbers of individuals over several months, shortages are predictable and a major threat to society. The present proposal aims at the setup of a diagnostic assay using an immunodetection technique and recombinant viral surface proteins expressed and purified in Luxembourg. This assay will allow Luxembourg...
Phylodynamic real-time monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 genomes
The current Covid-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 visus is an extreme world wide challenge to mankind's health. Current approaches to manage this challenge rely on reliable testing as well as the development of vaccination which both depend on the stability of specific sequences of the viral genome. Sequencing of viral genomes from patient samples provides deep insights on pathogen dynamics in terms of phylogeny and evolution allowing for spreading analysis and adaptation of molecular diagnostic and prevention strategies. Hence, the automatic dynamic analysis of data derived from v...
Cell-cell interaction model of COVID19 for potential interventions
The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic implies new challenges for the Health Systems worldwide. The great majority of COVID-19 infections are mild and self-limiting in nature. Nevertheless, a small percentage of the patients require hospitalisation and specialised attention in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). The role of host immune responses in clearance of COVID-19 or the role, if any, of host immune responses in contributing to severe respiratory pathogenesis of COVID-19 infections is not known at this time. There are previously identified specific host immune response chemokine and cytokine sig...
Relation of severity of COVID-19 infection to nutrient status, oxidative stress, inflammation & v...
Background: Severity of COVID-19 infection is related to host-factors including the immune and respiratory system, gut health, and pre-existing cardio-metabolic diseases. Enhanced inflammation and oxidative stress may worsen the prognosis of COVID-19 subjects. An imbalanced diet poor in essential micronutrients, dietary fiber and phytochemicals and containing insufficient proteins and antioxidant properties can aggravate these aspects, worsening the immune system and infection risk, especially in conjunction with enhanced visceral adiposity exacerbating chronic inflammation. Individuals wit...
DICO-Lux: DIgital Covid-19 Observatory In LUXembourg: An Open Tool For SARS-COV-2 Crisis Manageme...
Monitoring online activities for public health purposes has been investigated since the first days of the digital epidemiology field early 2010s, with the objective of capturing health-related trends and model disease outbreaks. Most famous examples of internet surveillance were developed for the flu, influenza AH1N1, the Zika virus or Ebola. We now have the opportunity to leverage both the digital data available online and the appropriate Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Text Mining methods to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. The main objective of the DICO-LUX project is to rapidly d...
Multi-omics evaluation of microbial co-infection as marker of COVID-19 severity -(CO-INFECTOMICS)
The main goal of this project is to understand if SARS-CoV2 co-infections are a predictive marker of disease severity in the Luxembourgish population. To achieve this, the study will compare the respiratory and stool samples of mild and severe SARS-CoV2 positive patients. Using metagenomics and metatranscriptomics, microbial profiles of the respiratory and intestinal tracts will be investigated, with a specific attention for co-infections. Moreover, individual microbial profiles will be correlated to the health parameters and immune response. We hope that the CO-INFECTOMICS project will ena...
Peptide / protein /single-cell map of the renin-angiotensin system in Covid-19
Receptors for entry of SARS-CoV-2 into lung pneumocytes belong to the renin-angiotensin system and disease that are associated to a dysregulation of the same system (e.g.: diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases) are thought to be associated with a bad Covid-19 prognosis. At the same time these receptor are also expressed on cells of the immune system and the immune system is involved in diseases associated to RAS dysregulation. Our project wish to use an integrated mass spectrometry / flow cytometry approach to build a map of the RAS at the peptide and protein level together w...
