Examples of relevant projects and initiatives related to the Covid-19 pandemic and Long Covid with whom the Long COVID project will intend to collaborate:
COVIRNA
The overall goal of the COVIRNA project is to generate a diagnostic test based on cardiovascular RNA biomarkers highly predictive of the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients and to enable its rapid market uptake with the aim to improve individualised surveillance, care and follow-up of these patients in the context of the current pandemic.
NEUROCOV
During five years the interdisciplinary NEUROCOV consortium will investigate the role of the host-virus interplay in the occurrence of neurological and psychiatric symptoms resulting from COVID-19 as a foundation for new treatment options.
ORCHESTRA
ORCHESTRA (Connecting European Cohorts to Increase Common and Effective Response to SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic) is a three-year international research project aimed at tackling the coronavirus pandemic, involving 26 partners (extending to a wider network of 37 partners) from 15 countries: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Congo, France, Gabon, Germany, India, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Venezuela.
END-VOC
END-VOC aims to elucidate the global circulation of the current and emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concerns (VOCs) and their characteristics, including transmissibility, pathogenicity and propensity to cause reinfection, to support best control strategies and the development of diagnostics; evaluate the impact of VOCs on the effectiveness of different vaccines and vaccination strategies, and assess the implications of VOCs on the choice of optimal treatment options.
EuCARE
The EuCARE project gathers a comprehensive multidisciplinary team of clinicians, virologists, epidemiologists, statisticians and top experts in artificial intelligence to unveil the impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants on key sectors of public health, as addressed by the call. To ensure a suitable representativeness of the different variants, vaccines and preventive measures, EuCARE has secured the appropriate cohorts from diverse geographic areas including European countries, Kenya, Mexico, Russia and Vietnam, and will consolidate or expand interactions with other cohorts.
CORESMA
CORESMA is working on an mHealth surveillance system to obtain real-time clinical data and improve risk assessment in countries most likely to be heavily affected by COVID-19. Researchers will also investigate the role of pre-existing cross or partial immunity against COVID-19 in susceptibility. Using comprehensive modelling and artificial intelligence, they will identify predictors for severe outcome, transmission dynamics and intervention effectiveness.
Periscope
The PERISCOPE project aims to conduct in-depth multidisciplinary research to evaluate and better inform Europe’s response to the pandemic. It does so by assessing the outbreak’s impact while taking policy measures as well as epidemiological, health and socioeconomic impacts into account. The main goal of the project is to uncover the real impact of the pandemic by providing a wealth of data and statistical information, promoting evidence-based policymaking while informing effective outbreak response.
COVID-19 host genetics initiative
The COVID-19 host genetics initiative is a bottom-up collaborative effort that has three main goals: 1.) Provide an environment to foster the sharing of resources to facilitate COVID-19 host genetics research (e.g. protocols, questionnaires). 2.) Organise analytical activities across studies to identify genetic determinants of COVID-19 susceptibility and severity. 3.) Provide a platform to share the results from such activities, as well as the individual-level data where possible, to benefit the broader scientific community.
RECOVER: Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery
The National Institutes of Health (NIH, USA) created the RECOVER Initiative to learn about the long-term effects of COVID. The RECOVER Initiative brings together patients, caregivers, clinicians, community leaders, and scientists from across the nation to understand, prevent, and treat PASC, including Long COVID.
Long COVID Europe (LCE)
Long COVID Europe (LCE) is a European network of Long COVID patient associations run by (current and former) Long COVID patients. LCE offers unique expertise as a patient network, helping third parties cover their patient-centric blind spots. Furthermore, LCE gathers information concerning Long COVID to curate and share with Long COVID stakeholders.
Cohort coordination board (CCB)
https://cohortcoordinationboard.eu/
The Cohort Coordination Board (CCB) is a forum that brings together cohort-based COVID-19 research projects across Europe alongside representatives from the European Commission, EMA, ECDC and EFPIA. It aims to encourage knowledge-sharing, facilitate partnerships, discuss similar challenges and reduce overlap between projects. During the CCB’s monthly meetings, members and external experts are invited to present new initiatives, share preliminary results and discuss common challenges. The Long COVID project is a CCB member.
altea long covid network
Altea, the Long COVID network, focuses on the exchange of information about the new Long COVID syndrome. Altea is a meeting place for patients, relatives, medical professionals, researchers and other interested parties.
Health-NCP-Net 3.0
HNN 3.0 is a European project funded under the Horizon Europe programme that is aimed at aligning and enhancing the services that National Contact Points (NCPs) for Cluster “Health” (CL1) within the pillar “Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness” of Horizon Europe provide to applicants of European funding for Health research across Europe and worldwide.
The network aims to facilitate transnational cooperation between NCPs for CL1 with a view to identifying and sharing good practices and raising the general standard of support to potential applicants of Horizon Europe in the Health Sector.
COllaborative on fatigue and related symptomes following infection
https://coffi-collaborative.com
COFFI is an international scientific collaborative of post-infective cohort studies. The overarching aim of COFFI is to investigate factors influencing the development of long-term symptoms (in particular fatigue) following certain infectious diseases (such as glandular fever/infectious mononucleosis). Pooling of resources, data and biological samples from post-infective cohort studies across the world is a prerequisite for achieving this aim.
Braintwin – Development of a World-Level Neuroengineering Research Centre by European Twinning
BrainTwin is a European project funded under the H2020 programme. It aims to increase networking activities and support TUIASI in developing a new centre for research and education by strengthening its scientific and technological capacity. The project will connect the Technical University Gheorghe Asachi in Iasi with leading research institutions from Germany and Spain and secure knowledge transfer from Austria and Germany.
CoVICIS – EU-Africa Concerted Action on SAR-CoV-2 Virus Variant and Immunological Surveillance
CoVICIS is a three year project funded by the EU Horizon Europe programme. It is led by Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois involving 14 partners from 7 countries – Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Ethiopia and South Africa. It aims to contribute to the early identification of emerging VOC (variants of concern) by obtaining in-depth understanding of the risk and protective factors to SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as the evolution of the virus in different risk, gender and age groups.
ENDOTARGET – Systemic Endotoxemia as the driver of chronic inflammation – Biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets for Arthritis
ENDOTARGET is a 4-year initiative funded by the European Commission. The project explores the relationship between gut microbiota, gut permeability, and systemic endotoxemia with a special focus on the three most abundant rheumatic diseases: osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and spondylarthritis. The aim is to clarify (1) the role of the three factors gut microbiota, gut permeability and systemic endotoxemia in RD onset and pathogenesis, (2) which events and mechanisms are responsible for the origin of RDs, and (3) the influence of the gut microbiota on the joints. Based on the gained knowledge, e.g. new biomarkers for risk assessment will be identified and a Rheumatic disease risk prediction tool (RDPT) will be developed to support clinicians in the classification of patients and to treat RDs preventively. This tool will help to reduce the risk of RD onset and/or to reduce disease activity.
EPIVINF – Understanding the epigenetic regulation to fight viral infections
The EPIVINF project aims to gain a deeper understanding of how acute vial infections alter the epigenetic regulation of host factors that are critical for immune control and neurological health related to these infections. In particular, EPIVINF will address how acute viral infections impact epigenetic control of host proteins that drive virus-associated disease and/or are involved in the antiviral immune response and how such persistent, epigenetic marks are related to long-term disease evolution. EPIVINF focuses on two major humal viral infections, HIV and SARS-CoV-2.
Lifelines
Lifelines is a unique biobank and large multi-generational cohort study based in the northern Netherlands, with 167,000 participants. It collects extensive health data, including genetic, biological, and lifestyle information, to support research on the prevention and treatment of multifactorial diseases. By offering rich, longitudinal data and biosamples, Lifelines enables researchers worldwide to study the underlying causes of diseases, especially those with complex interactions such as Long COVID. During the pandemic, Lifelines has set up a COVID-19 cohort to assess the psychological and societal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and investigate potential risk factors for COVID-19 within the Lifelines prospective population cohort. Thus, Lifelines has pre-infection data on symptom levels, which is a valuable contribution to the studies of the Long COVID EU project.
Finnish Medicine Agency (FIMEA)
Fimea acts as the licence and supervisory authority for medicines, blood and tissue preparations intended for humans or animals, and operators in the pharmaceuticals sector. Fimea also supervises the regulatory compliance of medical devices and the operators in the sector in Finland. In addition, the tasks defined for Fimea include coordination of the sector nationally, research tasks and the assessment of pharmacotherapies.
HERVCOV – SARS-CoV-2-induced activation of pathogenic endogenous retrovirus envelope HERV-W: towards personalized treatment of covid-19 patients
https://www.hervcovproject.eu/
The HERVCOV project aims to analyse the role of human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), known for their high pro-inflammatory potential, in the immunopathogenesis of COVID-19 and to identify and evaluate a set of biomarkers which will be important for the diagnosis, prognosis and follow-up of COVID-19 patients and their prioritization for targeted therapy.
The European Patient Safety Foundation (EUPSF)
European Patient Safety Foundation is an independent foundation, uniting experts and leading organisations to drive patient safety forward across Europe. Through partnership with leading organisations and experts, EPSF is developing collaborative initiatives to advance patient safety across Europe.
REACT – Respiratory Host-Pathogen Interaction
The REACT consortium unites high-level experts in virology, immunology, clinical medicine, epidemiology, and bioinformatics that, through assessing genotypic, high-dimensional immunophenotypic, demographic and clinical data aim to define host-pathogen interactions of influenza, RS virus and SARS-CoV-2.
Recodid – Reconciliation of Cohort data in Infectious Diseases
ReCoDID, is a four-year project supported by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Programme and by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Genetics (CIHR-IG). The consortium brings together a multidisciplinary team from four continents to fast track the research response to viruses and other pathogens by facilitating data and sample sharing between infectious disease cohort studies.
Synchros – SYNergies for Cohorts in Health: integrating the ROle of all Stakeholders
SYNCHROS is a three-year European project funded under the Research Programme Horizon 2020. The overall aim of the project is to coordinate and support the synchronisation of cohorts and population surveys in Europe and worldwide. The focus is on practical, methodological, ethical and legal challenges to facilitate research towards the development of stratified and personalised medicine as well as on better health policies.
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL)
THL is an independent state-owned expert and research institute that promotes the welfare, health and safety of the population. THL’s duties are established in the Finnish legislation.The key duty is to carry out research and expert work to prevent illnesses and social problems, develop the welfare society and support the social welfare and health care system and the social security system.
uncover – Unravelling Data for Rapid Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101016216
The EU-funded unCoVer project comprises a network of institutions that will gather and provide access to COVID-19 data from Europe and the rest of the world. The ultimate goal is to unify large data sets, complement research, inform public healthcare strategy and reduce the impact of future pandemics.
UNDINE – The human genetic and immunological determinants of the clinical manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection: Towards personalised medicine
Clinical manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 exposure present great variability, which can partly be explained by comorbidities. Recent evidence indicates that inborn errors of immunity or the presence of autoantibodies are associated with COVID-19 pneumonia. The EU-funded UNDINE project aims to extend such evidence and provide information on the genetic and immunological basis of variations in clinical manifestations following SARS-CoV-2 exposure. The project is a collaborative translational research effort among different European partners, who will contribute resources, including data, from patient cohorts. Moreover, they will develop diagnostic tests for autoantibodies as a means to predict COVID-19 adverse effects.
vaccelerate – European Corona Vaccine Trial Accelerator Platform
VACCELERATE is a clinical research network for the coordination and conduct of COVID-19 vaccine trials. The network is comprised of academic institutions from all over Europe: The consortium is led by the University Hospital Cologne, Germany, and currently includes 31 national partners in 18 EU-member states and 5 countries associated to the EU Horizon 2020 research programme.
verdi – SARS-coV-2 variants Evaluation in pRegnancy and paeDIatrics cohorts
The VERDI Consortium will generate improved evidence on the epidemiology, outcomes, prevention and treatment of variants of SARS-CoV-2 among children and pregnant women as a global response to the pandemic, involving cohort studies from diverse geographic and economic settings. It will also improve understanding of the epidemiology and impact of mpox in children, pregnant women and high-risk groups. The evidence and insight arising from the multidisciplinary research will help to rapidly deliver recommendations on the best strategies to control viral spread and optimize clinical management and treatment of COVID-19 and mpox infection.