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Project

Diagnosis through Sorted Immune Repertoires (DiagnoSIR).

Infectious disease laboratory diagnostic testing is still based on targeted test methods (Ag detection, PCR, ELISA, agglutination, ELISPOT, etc.). However, rapid evolutions in sequencing applications might soon dramatically change our diagnostic algorithms. For instance, metagenomic sequencing is an untargeted diagnostic tool for direct (in theory any) infectious pathogen detection without preassumptions on the causative agent. However, acute infectious pathogens rapidly disappear from the infected individual (causing diagnostic methods based on direct pathogen detection to fail) leaving behind its immune imprint (primed B and T cells). We here wish to demonstrate that immune repertoire sequencing (a cutting-edge sequencing tool that allows high-throughput mapping of B and T cell receptor variable domains) focused on recently activated immune cells is an indirect untargeted diagnostic tool for acute infectious pathogen detection. This method could therefore be an alternative to current indirect targeted assays (serology and T cell assays). To prove this concept, we will exploit recently collected acute COVID-19 patient samples.
Date:20 Oct 2020 →  19 Jul 2021
Keywords:T-CELLS, DIAGNOSTICS, INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Disciplines:Bioinformatics of disease, Microbial diagnostics, Adaptive immunology
Project type:Collaboration project