Project description:The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has claimed around 6.4 million lives worldwide. The disease symptoms range from mild flu-like infection to life-threatening complications. The widespread infection demands rapid, simple, and accurate diagnosis. Currently used methods include molecular biology-based approaches that consist of conventional amplification by RT-PCR, isothermal amplification-based techniques such as RT-LAMP, and gene editing tools like CRISPR-Cas. Other methods include immunological detection including ELISA, lateral flow immunoassay, chemiluminescence, etc. Radiological-based approaches are also being used. Despite good analytical performance of these current methods, there is an unmet need for less costly and simpler tests that may be performed at point of care. Accordingly, nanomaterial-based testing has been extensively pursued. In this review, we discuss the currently used diagnostic techniques for SARS-CoV-2, their usefulness, and limitations. In addition, nanoparticle-based approaches have been highlighted as another potential means of detection. The review provides a deep insight into the current diagnostic methods and future trends to combat this deadly menace.
Project description:6 patients with severe COVID-19 were followed longitudinally during hospitalization and up to 1 year after infection, when they also received a vaccine. For each time point and patient, PBMCs were collected and split into 3 pools: 1/3 was sequenced straight; from 1/3 of the samples B cells were enriched (B cell enrichment kit from StemCell) and from 1/3 of the samples, antigen-specific cells were sorted using barcoded N, S and RBD probes. All samples were further stained using a cocktail of 181 barcoded Abs. For all samples we have sequences gene-expression, B cell receptor and Cell surface proteins.
Project description:Since 2019, new coronavirus pneumonia has been widespread worldwide and has had a direct impact on human life. Meanwhile, it also has a huge impact on teaching in universities and hospitals, especially in experimental courses. Cell biology is not only an important part of biology but also one of the most dynamic frontier branches of modern life science, which is also a science based on experiments. It is necessary to promote the online and offline teaching during this special period. To explore and evaluate the blended teaching modes during the COVID-19 epidemic, we changed the previous single teaching mode of "teaching + experiment" and published courseware and learning requirements online before class, this kind of mode takes "theory + virtual demonstration experiment" in class as the main body and the reviewing and thinking after class as the summary. We also carried out offline practice on a small scale when the epidemic allowed and actively explored the comprehensive online and offline teaching modes, in and out of class. Through the hybrid teaching, the percentage distribution of students in high and moderate scores ranges were greatly increased, the blended teaching mode also greatly improves students' subjective initiative and highlights the development of students' personalized thinking and scientific research ability. The practice of this model not only ensures the health of teachers and students during the epidemic but also provides a new teaching exploration model and thinking for the development of experimental courses during the epidemic.
Project description:To reveal genetic determinants of susceptibility to COVID-19 severity in the population and further explore potential immune-related factors, we performed a genome-wide association study on 284 confirmed COVID-19 patients (cases) and 95 healthy individuals (controls). We compared cases and controls of European (EUR) ancestry and African American (AFR) ancestry separately. To further exploring the linkage between HLA and COVID-19 severity, we applied fine-mapping analysis to dissect the HLA association with mild and severe cases.