A consortium of scientists from the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), in collaboration with the Hannover Unified Biobank (HUB), has started to establish a cohort of Covid-19 patients. The HUB is a German Biobank Alliance (GBA) partner since 2017.
By means of intensive molecular characterisation, the patient cohort will enable a better understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease, the identification of biomarkers for disease severity and related metabolic pathways, and to determine treatment options. The HUB's Covid-19 cohort will comprise a total of 1,000 participants – both patients with different degrees of illness and control persons. From these individuals, the HUB collects and stores different types of samples: blood, live blood cells, plasma, urine, saliva and bronchioalveolar lavage (BAL). The Ministry of Economics and Culture of Lower Saxony (MWK) supports the HUB with two million Euros.
The project is linked to the international Covid-19 Host Genetics Initiative – an initiative for the human genetics research community to generate, share and analyse data.
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