The human genetic and immunological determinants of the clinical manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection: Towards personalized medicine
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 750 million people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, including more than 6.8 million deaths worldwide. The consequences of infection with SARS-CoV-2 vary greatly in the general population, ranging from silent infection to lethal disease, with a variety of clinical presentations in between. This immense inter-individual clinical variability is the key scientific and medical enigma in the field.
The task of the UNDINE project is to decipher the human genetic and immunological basis of the various SARS-CoV-2 disease manifestations and to gain broad knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis in order to identify individuals at increased risk of critical COVID-19, post-infectious immunological complications, and vaccine failure. The goal of this project is to provide a base for the development of diagnostic tests and to propose novel preventive and therapeutic approaches.
To achieve this goal, a European consortium led by AU coordinates a number of multidisciplinary and translational studies, which are closely aligned with the global COVID Human Genetic Effort (covidhge.com). We rely on this strong and synergistic combination of assets, including unique patient cohorts from 11 EU countries, state-of-the art human genetic, immunological, and virological expertise and technologies.
