FOR-COVID
Bavarian consortium for research on the pandemic disease COVID-19 (FOR-COVID)
The association
At the beginning of January 2020, a number of patients with pneumonia of unknown aetiology was reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The outbreak was associated with a seafood market in Wuhan, where a novel coronavirus was identified as the etiological agent. Several independent research groups identified this novel virus as a member of the zoonotic coronavirus family with highly identical genome as a bat coronavirus, pointing to the bat as the natural host. The genomic sequences of the novel virus are almost identical and share about 80% sequence identity to a virus that emerged 17 years ago causing a „Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome“ called SARS-CoV. As a result, the novel identified virus has been classified as SARS-CoV-2. While the virus is likely originating from zoonotic coronaviruses, it adapted perfectly to humans and has spread rapidly worldwide, reaching a pandemic level in a short time.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus causes a disease, which is called coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) and shows a wide range of symptoms, ranging from asymptomatic/mild symptoms to flue-like symptoms and further to severe illness with progressive respiratory insufficiency requiring mechanical ventilation which can even trigger a multiple organ dysfunction syndrome.
2 years after the first report, SARS-CoV-2 and its new emerged, fast-spreading 'variants of concern' (VoCs - as the so-called alpha, beta, omikron variants) have caused millions of infections worldwide with a high mortality rate. Thus, COVID-19 has triggered enormous human casualties and serious economic loss posing global threat and a crucial test for the international solidarity of the world.
Quelle: Sequences are available at www.GISAID.org. Fig: Dr. Maximilian Muenchhoff, Max von Pettenkofer-Institut, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU). For enlargment of the figure please click here.
Also in Germany and Bavaria society, politics and science are facing completely new challenges in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. As a result and in an effort to face the pandemic and its major scientific questions, Bavarian universities and research institutes joined forces in the Bavarian research consortium ‘FOR-COVID’. The research partners in FOR-COVID are international renowned scientists with expertise in virological diagnostics, the development of vaccines, the evaluation of virus specific immunity and the virus – cell interactions and the research in pathogenesis and therapy.
The mission of FOR-COVID is to contribute to the continuous international scientific efforts to combat COVID-19 and the pandemic. On the national level FOR-COVID will closely interact and join forces with the project groups of a Saxonian research network.
Organisation
Sprecherin
Stellvertretender Sprecher
Geschäftsführung
Wissenschaftler*in
- Prof. Dr. Percy Knolle
- Alina Tscherne
- Prof. Dr. Sutter Gerd
- Prof. Dr. Wagner Ralf
- Prof. Dr. Tenbusch Matthias
- Prof. Dr. Klaus Überla
- Dr. Munschauer Mathias
- Prof. Dr. Vogel Jörg
- Dr. med. Münchhoff Maximilian
- Prof. Dr. Keppler Oliver
- Dr. Peterhoff David
- Dr. Asbach Benedikt
- Prof. Dr. Dr. Pichlmair Andreas
- Prof. Dr. Saliba Antoine-Emmanuel
- Prof. Dr. Erhard Florian
- Prof. Dr. Dölken Lars
- Prof. Dr. Protzer Ulrike
Partner
Projects
- Projekt im Forschungsnetz Sachsen-Bayern: Formierung, klinisches Management und Langzeit-Follow-up einer Saechsischen COVID-19-Kohorte (SaCCo)
- Projekt im Forschungsnetz Sachsen-Bayern: Entwicklung und Anwendung eines innovativen, sicheren SARS-CoV-2 Pseudovirus Systems für ‚High-Throughput Cellular Screens‘ zur Identifikation Wirts-abhängiger Eintrittsfaktoren oder antiviraler Agentien
- Projekt im Forschungsnetz Sachsen-Bayern: Analyse und Modulation von angeborener und erworbener Immunität bei SARS-CoV2 Infektion
- Elucidate SARS-CoV-2 Antigenic escape Pathways resulting in immune Evasion (ESCAPE)
- Mucosal immune responses for protection against SARS-CoV-2
- Strength and durability of immune respones SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination
- Expanding immunity against SARS-CoV-2 by vaccination
- T cell antigens for new multivalent vector vaccines against SARS-CoV-2-like coronaviruses
- Evolution of virus-host interactions in SARS-CoV-2 VOCs
- Deciphering SARS-CoV-2 infection by scSLAM-seq and artificial intelligence
- Decoding the biology of SARS-CoV-2 infections from its direct in vivo RNA-protein interactome
News
Press
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21.12.2021
Do our vaccines work reliably against Omicron?
How booster vaccination works and why it also protects us against Omicron: An interview with virologist Ulrike Protzer, Institute Director at Helmholtz Munich.
https://www.helmholtz.de/en/newsroom/article/our-vaccines-are-also-effective-against-variants/
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25.01.2021
Corona: How the virus interacts with cells
In order to develop treatment option for COVID 19 a detailed understanding of the molecular interactions between the virus and the cells it infects is needed. It must also be clarified, whether these interactions favour the multiplication of the virus or - on the contrary - activate defence mechanisms.
A multidisciplinary study of scientists from the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) Würzburg, the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) and the Broad Institute (Cambridge, USA) focused on these open research questions.
Here the information on their results:
https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/news-and-events/news/detail/news/corona-how-the-virus-interacts-with-cells/ -
07.01.2021
The Technical University of Munich (TUM) presents the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Medal in 2020 to Prof. Dr. Ulrike Protzer
Prof. Dr Ulrike Protzer received the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Medal in 2020 "in recognition of her outstanding commitment to contain the corona pandemic, her scientifically sound and thoughtful information of the public and consultation of politicians, among others in the Expert Council of the Bavarian State Government, as well as her internationally renowned research in the field of virus-host interaction".
For more information please click here:
https://www.tum.de/en/about-tum/awards-and-honors/awards-presented-by-the-tum/maier-leibnitz-medal/
Publications
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The SARS-CoV-2 RNA–protein interactome in infected human cells.
Nora Schmidt 1, Caleb A Lareau 2, Hasmik Keshishian 3, Sabina Ganskih 1, Cornelius Schneider 4 5, Thomas Hennig 6, Randy Melanson 3, Simone Werner 1, Yuanjie Wei 1, Matthias Zimmer 1, Jens Ade 1, Luisa Kirschner 6, Sebastian Zielinski 1, Lars Dölken 1 6, Eric S Lander 3 7 8, Neva Caliskan 1 9, Utz Fischer 1 5, Jörg Vogel 1 4, Steven A Carr 3, Jochen Bodem 10, Mathias Munschauer 11
Full Text
Nat Microbiol 2020 Dec 21.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-00846-z
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Multilevel proteomics reveals host perturbations by SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV
Alexey Stukalov1,15, Virginie Girault1,15, Vincent Grass1,15, Ozge Karayel2,15, Valter Bergant1,15,
Christian Urban1,15, Darya A. Haas1,15, Yiqi Huang1,15, Lila Oubraham1, Anqi Wang1,
M. Sabri Hamad1, Antonio Piras1, Fynn M. Hansen2, Maria C. Tanzer2, Igor Paron2,
Luca Zinzula3, Thomas Engleitner4, Maria Reinecke5,6,7, Teresa M. Lavacca1, Rosina Ehmann8,9,
Roman Wölfel8,9, Jörg Jores10, Bernhard Kuster5,6,7, Ulrike Protzer1,9, Roland Rad4,
John Ziebuhr11, Volker Thiel12,13, Pietro Scaturro1,14, Matthias Mann2 & Andreas Pichlmair1,9 ✉Full Text
Nature 2021 Jun;594(7862):246-252.doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03493-4. Epub 2021 Apr 12.
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Comparison of four commercial, automated antigen tests to detect SARS‑CoV‑2 variants of concern
Andreas Osterman, Maximilian Iglhaut, Andreas Lehner, Patricia Spaeth, Marcel Stern,
Hanna Autenrieth, Maximilian Muenchhoff, Alexander Graf, Stefan Krebs, Helmut Blum,
Armin Baiker, Natascha Grzimek-Koschewa, Ulrike Protzer, Lars Kaderali, Hanna-Mari Baldauf, Oliver T. Keppler
Full Text
Medical Microbiology and Immunology, accepted: 13 August 2021
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Estimates and Determinants of SARS-Cov-2 Seroprevalence and Infection Fatality Ratio Using Latent Class Analysis: The Population-Based Tirschenreuth Study in the Hardest-Hit German County in Spring 2020
Wagner R, Peterhoff D, Beileke S, Günther F, Berr M, Einhauser S, Schütz A, Niller HH, Steininger P, Knöll A, Tenbusch M, Maier C, Korn K, Stark KJ, Gessner A, Burkhardt R, Kabesch M, Schedl H, Küchenhoff H, Pfahlberg AB, Heid IM, Gefeller O, Überla K.
Full text
Viruses. 2021 Jun 10;13(6):1118. doi: 10.3390/v13061118.
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Association between Reactogenicity and Immunogenicity after Vaccination with BNT162b2
Stilla Bauernfeind, Bernd Salzberger, Florian Hitzenbichler, Karolina Scigala, Sebastian Einhauser, Ralf Wagner, André Gessner, Josef Koestler, David Peterhoff
Full text
Vaccines (Basel) 2021 Oct; 9(10): 1089. Published online 2021 Sep 27.
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Spectrum Bias and Individual Strengths of SARS-CoV-2 Serological Tests—A Population-Based Evaluation
Sebastian Einhauser, David Peterhoff, Hans Helmut Niller, Stephanie Beileke, Felix Günther, Philipp Steininger, Ralph Burkhardt, Iris M. Heid, Annette B. Pfahlberg, Klaus Überla, Olaf Gefeller, Ralf Wagner
Full text:
Diagnostics (Basel) 2021 Oct; 11(10): 1843. Published online 2021 Oct
more
Contact
Sprecherin:
Frau Prof. Dr. Ulrike Protzer, Technische Universität München (TUM), Institut für Virologie
Stellvertretende Sprecher:
Herr Prof. Dr. Oliver Keppler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), Max-von-Pettenkofer Institut, Virologie,
Herr Prof. Dr. Joerg Vogel, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU), Institut für Molekulare Infektionsbiologie
Kontakt:
PD Dr. Martina Anton
Geschäftsführung Bay Forschungsverbund FOR-COVID
Klinikum rechts der Isar der TUM
Institut für Molekulare Immunologie
Ismaninger Str. 22
81675 München
email: martina.anton@tum.de
Mobil: +49 (0)89 4140 4453