117 projects
Status
Organization Type
#covid19 - History and collective memory in the making on social media
#covid19 - History and collective memory in the making (short title : #covid19) aims at observing, analyzing and understanding the history and collective memory 'in the making' of a global and 'total' event, i.e. the worldwide covid19 crisis. The project will be based on several datasets (see below, the 'source' section) from different social media platform. Among the research questions that will be asked, three of them will be of particular interest: • What is the role of the (non-)memory of previous historical events in the way people respond to this pandemic? • How do people ad...
A PRECLINICAL EVALUATION: VACCINATION AND EFFICACY AGAINST SARS-CoV-2
SARS-CoV-2, the causative factor of COVID-19, is endangering the world's health, prosperity and political crises are on the horizon. Nations worldwide had to take drastic measures to prevent catastrophes: strict confinement and hygienic measures have been undertaken to minimize the virus spread. Despite the control measures, the pandemic is inevitably damaging the economy due to a shutdown of public and business life, an overload of the healthcare systems, and the high case fatality rate of COVID-19. The global fight against COVID-19 has mobilized, and many provisional treatments are being ...
A dynamic model of the COVID-19 tuned for different countries: a systems-biological tool for the ...
A dynamic model of COVID-19 epidemics recently developed (video: https://youtu.be/lbsqJ1_WvmE, model: https://jjj.bio.vu.nl/models/westerhoff1/simulate/, ref: https://medrxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.03.29.20045039v1) will be tuned for different countries to analyze the effect of different measures in the anticipation of next epidemics. Models will be available for online simulations at JWS Online (https://jjj.bio.vu.nl/models/westerhoff1/simulate/), and used for the development of computer tutorials for systems biological studies.
A novel high throughput assay to measure plasma neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV2
To date, there is no vaccine and no specific antiviral agent against SARS-CoV-2. Because of hospital saturation, controversial drug efficiency and the risk of medicinal shortage, there is an urgent need for alternative treatment options. Passive (plasmapheresis) and active immunization (vaccine) approaches aim to provide or elicit a protective humoral immune response against SARS-CoV-2. This project aims to develop a high throughput assay to measure the neutralizing activity of COVID-19 patients. It will help characterize the antibody response against SARS-CoV-2, and select the sera with hi...
A unified web-based platform for viral phylogeny, proteomics and genomics research in real-time
We propose the development of an integrated web-based data exploration tool for genomics, proteomics, phylogeny, evolutionary and geographical data on SARS-CoV-2 samples from Luxembourg supporting researchers and physicians to gauge the potential impact of viral evolution on virulence and transmission dynamics but also the efficacy of molecular detection methods. Integrating different data sources and visualisation modes through a graphical web-interface will offer a unique perspective on the pathogen and serve as tools to assess potential imminent risks.
AICovIX - AI based diagnosis of Covid-19 from CT/X-Ray imaging
The gold standard for Covid-19 diagnosis is RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 from the upper airways. This method suffers from decreased accuracy in more severe disease stages affecting the lower airways. False negative PCR tests in severe cases impose a massive risk to the health system, promoting intra-hospital disease spread in the actual pandemic situation. Reports from China indicate false negative PCR from upper airway samples in severe Covid-19 pneumonia in more than 50% of the cases. Therefore, complementary tests for the detection of these dangerous cases are urgently needed. The value of che...
An Experimental test of Hospital Admission Guidelines
The project consists in an anonymous survey experiment on hospital guidelines during pandemics, such as those indicated by the Commission Nationale D'Ethique. Hospital guidelines are there to regulate admissions and treatment in case of congestion. Such guidelines, however, are rarely discussed in the media and most people are unlikely to be familiar with them. We propose to ask respondents whether they agree or not with the ethical principles of such guidelines and which ethical principles they would favor the most. In particular, we ask them to read a number of hypothetical scenarios on ...
An integrative network-based drug repurposing approach for COVID-19
We aim at analyzing the publicly available transcriptomics data generated by exposing human lung epithelial cells to SARS-CoV particles and measuring the differences in the gene expression. We will use a molecular network analysis approach to identify a set of key genes, that represent key regulators in the SARS-CoV gene expression signature. This signature will be filtered to distinguish pathological from protective responses and used to identify drugs that could potentially reverse pathological features of the disease phenotype based on the anti-correlation of known drug-response gene exp...