NIAID Selects Metabolon for COVID-19 Study

Metabolon will participate in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, Immunophenotyping Assessment in a COVID-19 Cohort, or IMPACC, study (grant no: 5U19AI118602-04).

Analysis of the data generated from this novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) study, being led by researchers at the Precision Vaccines Program (PVP) at Boston Children's Hospital is examining how the human immune system responds to SARS-CoV-2 infection with a focus on defining biomarkers of COVID-19 severity and outcome. Metabolon will characterize the impact of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on the human plasma metabolome.

"It's an honor to collaborate with NIAID and participating researchers across the U.S. on the IMPACC study to assess and precisely characterize the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on health," said Greg Michelotti, Ph.D., Scientific Director, Metabolon, Inc. "Metabolomics provides a detailed snapshot of the phenotype, enabling deeper understanding of health and disease. The actionable metabolomics insights will help inform development of diagnostics, prognostics, therapeutics and vaccines to address the COVID-19 pandemic."

This study with NIAID also involves supporting the PVP's Clinical Data Collection Center (CDCC) in their efforts to integrate clinical data such as age, sex, COVID-19 disease severity and outcomes with systems biology data, including metabolomics.

"We are honored to partner with NIAID and Metabolon in this effort to define how the human response to SARS-CoV-2 correlates to COVID severity and outcome. Metabolic features of the immune responses are increasingly recognized as pivotal to disease and health, and we are fortunate to have Metabolon's excellent team by our side as we undertake this critical work," Dr. Ofer Levy, Director of the PVP at Boston Children's Hospital said.

Metabolomics is fundamental to unlocking the genome and delivering on the promise of multi-omics. The approach supports population health initiatives and gets our world closer to the goal of personalized medicine.

Metabolon will perform global metabolomics on biological samples, including serum, derived from a population of ~1,000 study participants. The samples will be examined across different time points to observe metabolic changes in the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection over time and correlate these with COVID severity and outcome.

Based at Boston Children's Hospital and Directed by Dr. Ofer Levy, the Precision Vaccines Program (PVP) is a platform to enhance collaboration among academia, government and industry to advance next generation vaccines for vulnerable populations. Featuring ~40 scientists and administrators on site and a broader Precision Vaccines Network of >400 collaborators across the globe, the PVP employs systems vaccinology, human in vitro modeling, adjuvant discovery and development, and human clinical trials to advance next generation vaccines.