Activity
The beneficiary – MEDIREX GROUP ACADEMY n.o
Research activity 1:
Research into progressive methods for diagnosing COVID-19 and the biomarkers enabling early detection of individuals at increased risk of severe course of the disease.
Extension of the existing diagnostic method detecting infectious agents with comparable clinical signs enabling rapid and effective differential laboratory diagnostics.
Introduction and standardization of a metagenomic sequencing method to determine complete genetic information of the virus to identify the causative agent and monitor viral evolution in RNA samples from positive patients, determination of sequence variants that distinguish infected asymptomatic and infected symptomatic patients, patients with severe course of the disease, and site-specific sequence variants.
Identification of genetic loci/genomic variants/transcriptomic markers that potentially influence the course of the disease in patients (at least at the WES level, ideally at the WGS analyses level). Comparison of uninfected, infected asymptomatic, infected symptomatic patients and infected patients with severe course of the disease.
Analysis of cases with a severe course of the disease in patients with immune disorders and identification of biomarkers applicable in prognosis, or possibly early identification of individuals at increased risk of severe course of the disease using genetic/genomic/transcriptomic or immunological/immunophenotyping assays.
Partner 1 – Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava
Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology
Research activity 1:
Research into progressive methods for diagnosing COVID-19 and the biomarkers enabling early detection of individuals at increased risk of severe course of the disease.
Improving the current diagnostic method based on RT-qPCR in various respects – analysis time, costs of the analysis, increasing the throughput of the analyses, automation of individual steps of the analysis.