At the "Workshop della Spienza" in Rome on November 25th-26th, 2024, Giuseppe Novelli (UNITOV) presented a talk on the impact of host genetics on the susceptibility to infectious diseases. The workshop was organised by the Italian National Research Council (CNR) This topic is the centre of the UNDINE project and particularly relates to the work of the Novelli-lab in work package 4.

The group of Javier Martinez Picado (ICS) presented a talk at an international conference on Long-Covid in Barcelona/Spain on November 21st-22nd, 2024. This conference aimed to raise awareness, clarify misconceptions, promote understanding, and stimulate discussion amongst healthcare professionals, investigators, policymakers, and community representatives to address public health challenges related to Long-Covid. The given presentation of the Picado-lab in particular highlighted the importance of identifying biomarkers as a basis for diagnosing and treating Long-Covid in patients, since clinical manifestations continue to be diverse and not well defined. This topic is a major focus of the UNDINE project and the centre of work package 7.

Paul Bastard (INSERM), was interviewed in this 20min video, where he introduced his virology research. The viewer gets a look behind the scenes and discovers what the job is like to be both, a doctor and a researcher, specialized in immune diseases in children. The interviewer followed Paul during his working routine at the Imagine Institute, a research center for genetic diseases.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-zXNlDPPYw

On September 29^th, 2024 Professor Cliona O’Farrelly gave a talk to the local community and informed about the viral immunity resrach at Trinity College Dublin. This was again part of the Trinity College contribution to the EU researchers’ night. Professor O’Farrelly spoke about how we can strengthen our immune systems and gave some of the guest a tour through the research facilities.

On July 5^th, 2024 Professor Giuseppe Novelli reported in an article for the Italian health communication journal "Quotidiano Sanità" about his lab's recent publication. In this article, authors of the mentioned publication report on the impact of their results on the develeopment of antiviral drugs in response to newly emerging variants of SARS CoV-2. In essence, the publication of interest proposes and discusses an effective peptide-based strategy for promptly responding to new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Prof Novelli has furter advertised the new publication as part of the UNDINE-project on his linkedin-profile.

At the Human Genome Meeting (HGM) in Rome in April 2024, the lab of Giuseppe Novelli (UNITOV) presented a poster highlighting their progress in their quest to explain the genetic basis for an association between the highly variable antibody production in SARS-CoV-2 infection and the according severity of Covid-19. (UNDINE-project: work package 4). The title of the poster was: Genetic diversity of the Ig Heavy chain locus in SARS-CoV-2 infection

On November 17^th, 2023 Professor Trine Mogensen reported in an article for the Danish newspaper 'Berlingske' about the importance of the current COVID-19 research, highlighting the focus on the immense differences in individual suceptibilities to the disease. Prof. Mogensen emphasises the importance of seeking an understanding of the risk factors that predict a severe progression of an infection. In this article, she reports on her involvement in ongoing research (incl. UNDINE) that already has identificied a number of rare genetic defects that may explain an increased suceptibility, even in young people and children. Although the corona virus is not perceived to be a big problem at the moment, the mentioned research aims at developing tests that, in the future, can identify people with an increased risk of suffering from severe COVID-19. Moreover, this knowledge will help to develop personalised treatment approaches also to other viruses, which may emerge in future pandemic outbreaks.

https://www.berlingske.dk/samfund/ny-forskning-derfor-har-en-raekke-boern-og-unge-oeget-risiko-for-at-doe-af

On September 13^th, 2023 Professor Cliona O’Farrelly gave a public talk to residents that live around Trinity College Dublin entitled ‘Our immune system – what has Covid taught us and what can we do strengthen our immunity?’, as part of a Trinity College series talk and EU researchers’ night. Professor O’Farrelly spoke about how we can strengthen our immune systems through maintaining a healthy weight and exercise regime, as recent research over the past decades has shown it can decrease disease associated inflammation throughout the body. The effect of socioeconomic stress on immunity was also discussed, with recent research showing it can also affect our inflammatory response and susceptibility to disease. Finally, the work of the UNDINE consortium was mentioned, and how despite environmental factors, our genetic make-up may determine our immune health and in turn disease susceptibility, as well as our potential to be resistant to disease. The audience remained engaged and interactive throughout asking questions as to what the latest research tells us about protecting ourselves from infection to autoimmune disease. The audience also relayed stories ranging from their individual experiences throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as well as living with autoimmune diseases.  

At the Cell Symposium in Sitges/Spain in March 2023, bioMérieux presented a poster highlighting their progress in the development of a diagnostic tool for the detection of Anti-IFN-I auto-Antibodies. Specifically, they introduced the new VIDAS® auto-Abs IFNα2a IgG type prototype assay, developed as a part of the UNDINE-project (work package 5).

András Spaan (UMCU) is interviewed on the objective of his recent COVID-research, which is a substantial contibution to the UNDINE project. The article addresses the rationale behind the search for rare gentic predispositions and their potential link to the susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infections.

The lucky few to never get coronavirus could teach us more about it