Antibody Testing Research Receives NSF RAPID Grant
IPR project will investigate the origins of social inequalities in COVID-19 across Chicago neighborhoods
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The goals of this project are inherently about understanding the causes and solutions to the dramatic race and place inequities in COVID-19 across the city of Chicago and in other communities around the county.”
Brian Mustanski
Director of ISGMH and an IPR Associate
Kit developed by Northwestern researchers to collect a finger stick dried blood spot.
Northwestern University researchers have received a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to generate scientific insights into the determinants of SARS-CoV-2 exposure with a minimally invasive approach to community-based serological testing.
This project is among the latest at Northwestern to receive a rapid research (RAPID) grant from the NSF, which has called for immediate proposals that have potential to address the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The team of scientists includes IPR biological anthropologist Thomas McDade, Nanette Benbow, Alexis Demonbreun, Richard D’Aquila, Elizabeth McNally and Brian Mustanski, who is an IPR associate.
Working with the eHealth experts in the University’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH), a web-based, “no-contact” research platform was developed to investigate the origins of social inequities in COVID-19 across neighborhoods in Chicago.
“The goals of this project are inherently about understanding the causes and solutions to the dramatic race and place inequities in COVID-19 across the city of Chicago and in other communities around the county,” said Mustanski, director of ISGMH and professor of medical social sciences in Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Some highlights about how the test works are below.
- Recruited participants can go to the website with their smart phone or computer where consent is administered electronically along with a survey.
- Participants are mailed a kit to collect a finger stick dried blood spot (DBS) sample, which is returned to the lab and analyzed for IgG antibodies against the receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2.
- The test results will be combined with survey responses and neighborhood-based administrative data to investigate the individual-, household- and community-level predictors of exposure.
The second aim of the research is to develop a protocol for detecting neutralizing antibodies in DBS samples. This aim addresses an important limitation of current antibody tests which detect the presence of binding antibodies, but cannot quantify the presence of the neutralizing antibodies in the laboratory, which are candidates for conferring protection against re-infection by preventing the virus from entering host cells. The protocol will then be applied to samples from the first aim to investigate the factors that predict the development of neutralizing activity to SARS-CoV-2. If so, a next step in future research will be to see if they protect people from re-infection.
“The broader impacts of this research include the generation of data on the predictors of viral spread in the community that can be used to mitigate future outbreaks and improved methods for antibody testing to inform estimates of herd immunity,” said McDade. “The project also integrates research and education, and includes public outreach activities on the role of antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2.”
The project, “RAPID: Next phase serological testing for SARS-CoV-2 for biocultural research,” is funded by NSF award number 2035114.
Photo credit: T. McDade
Published: June 17, 2020.
