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...

Communication4Care

In a nutshell: Communication4Care (Com4Care) is a cloud-based communication platform to facilitate GDPR conform interoperability and link of relevant (sensor) data with structured patient-related information. No data files need to be exchanged and the platform provides a secure data storage and (real time or asynchronous) communication channel. Thus, improved standardized data acquisition, process monitoring, and data interpretation are possible. The patient can collect and report individual findings and outcomes (PROMs) and 'distribution of information' or sending of data files (electronic...

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...

Cytokines as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in COVID-19 infection

Cytokines play an important role in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 infection. A subgroup of patients develops a cytokine storm syndrome, correlating with a bad clinical outcome. For example, the concentration of the inflammatory cytokine Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has been recognized as a risk factor for mortality and for respiratory failure in Chinese and German patient cohorts, respectively. Tocilizumab, an antibody directed against the IL-6 receptor alpha chain, is used in clinical trials as well as an FDA-approved inhibitor of Jaks, tyrosine kinases which mediate the signal transduction of mult...

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HUMAN GENETIC VARIANTS AS PREDICTORS OF THE IMMUNE RESPONSE TO COVID-19

One of the main unanswered questions is why some individuals infected with COVID-19 develop severe disease, whilst others do not. Current evidence suggests that genetic variations influence human immune reactions to microbial infections, including both innate and adaptive immune responses. Here, we aim to evaluate the impact of genetic factors on the variability of the innate immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. On top of a large screening of the classical immune response genes (e.g. IFNs, ILs, TLRs, MHCs), we are particularly interested in the IRG1/ACOD1 gene, which we previously di...

Hormonal status as predictor of Covid-19 infection severity (HorCovIS)

Among people infected by COVID 19, significant disparities have been observed regarding the severity of the symptoms. Although some factors such as the presence of comorbidities have been pointed out, for another part of the patients the high severity of the symptoms remains unexplained. The HorCoVIS project aims at assessing how the hormonal status of the patients prior to infection, could be linked to symptoms severity and possibly used as a predictive tool of specific measures necessity in newly infected patients.

Identifying Predictors of Disease Progression and Tracking Viral Spread in COVID-19 Using Contin...

COVID-19 presents several unique challenges within cardiovascular care. While patients with preexisting CVD appear to be at an increased risk for severe disease and/or death, infection has also been shown to produce a number of CV sequelae, including cardiogenic shock and heart failure, in patients with no known CVD. Further complicating the management of cardiovascular care in COVID-19 are the adverse cardiovascular side effects produced by nearly all investigational therapies currently being tested, as well as, the unknown effects of standard care therapies used for the management of pree...

Low-cost breath sensors for SARS-CoV-2 for home usage

Based on our research on liquid crystal droplets and shells demonstrating their responsiveness to specific substances in their surrounding, e.g. lipids, I would like to explore the possibility of making low-cost tests for SARS-CoV-2 that people can use in their home. We also make polymer fibers in our labs, and by using the right polymer, we can make a filter that a persons breathers through (mounted in, e.g., a face mask), and then the filter is dissolved in water, which is the natural surrounding for our liquid crystal droplets and spheres. If viruses have been caught in the filter, they ...