Rutgers University researchers plan to provide serologic antibody testing to help determine the incidence of Long COVID and the effect that this condition has on children as part of the National Institutes of Health RECOVER Initiative. The serological testing, which determines the presence and key characteristics of antibodies directed against proteins produced by SARS-CoV-2—the virus causing COVID-19—will be performed in the laboratory of Maria Laura Gennaro, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Public Health Research Institute at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS).
“Our research will involve in-depth studies to assess whether anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses differ between children who developed Long COVID, and those who did not,” explained Gennaro. “This work might help determine whether some antiviral antibodies have beneficial or harmful long-term effects, opening the way to various therapeutic scenarios. One strength of this endeavor is that key SARS-CoV-2 proteins used in the assays are produced in-house, in the laboratory of Abraham Pinter, professor of medicine at Rutgers NJMS, using methods they established in more than a decade of HIV research.” To read the full story.