Clinical Research Pilot Projects Program, 2023–2024: "Markers of Long-term Immunity After SARS-CoV -2 Infection Versus Vaccination"

Research Areas

  • Infectious disease
  • Pathogens
  • Genomics
  • Serology

Scientific Achievements

  • Developed approach for broadly characterizing infection rate disparities using <1 µL of blood
  • Built open-source software tools for understanding antibody responses and infection histories
  • Finely mapped antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination

Funding

RCMI Funding: U54MD012388 pilot, U24MD015970 pilot

Scientific Advance

Mapping disparities in viral infection rates using highly multiplexed serology.
Published in mSphere, Volume 9, 2024, PMCID: PMC11423740.
Our understanding of population level virus infection rates and associated health disparities is incomplete. In part, this is because of the high diversity of human infecting viruses and the limited breadth and sensitivity of traditional approaches for detecting infection events. Here, we demonstrate the potential for modern, highly multiplexed antibody detection methods to greatly increase our understanding of disparities in rates of infection across subpopulations (e.g., different sexes or ethnic groups). The use of antibodies as biomarkers allows us to detect evidence of past infections over an extended period, and our approach for highly multiplexed serology allows us to measure antibody responses against hundreds of viruses in an efficient and cost effective manner.
NIH/NIMHD #U54MD012388, NIH/NIAID #U24AI152172
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