RESIST researchers are part of the Network of University Medicine: To better tackle the corona pandemic the German university hospitals have joined forces by establishing the “Network of University Medicine”. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is supporting 13 projects of this network with a total of 150 million euros. One of these projects, NAPKON, is co-coordinated by RESIST researcher Professor Dr. Thomas Illig and RESIST researchers are cooperation partners in other projects.
“The aim of the NAPKON project ‘National Pandemic Cohort Network’ is to create a basis for a better understanding of the course of COVID-19 and to research possible therapies. We bring together clinical data, biosamples and imaging data in scientific studies,” says Professor Illig. NAPKON is closely linked to another project of the network called CODEX, which aims to create a nationwide uniform infrastructure for the storage of COVID-19 research data sets. NAPKON is also cooperating with the project “Determination and Use of SARS-CoV-2 Immunity” (COVIM).
Central COVIM issues are: Who is immunologically protected from a SARS-CoV-2 infection? When does the protection start and how long does it last? And how can the immunity be transferred to other people and be used for new therapeutic approaches? In order to find answers, immunological data from population studies and the investigation of COVID-19 genesis will be combined and concepts for the immunotherapy of this disease will be developed. COVIM cooperation partners include RESIST speaker Professor Dr. Thomas Schulz and RESIST researcher Professor Dr. Gérard Krause.
COVIM works together with the B-FAST project, the “Nationwide Research Network Applied Surveillance and Testing”, among others. With B-FAST a platform is being developed in which test and surveillance strategies can be tested. They are intended to serve the observation, analysis, interpretation and reporting of health data. RESIST-scientists Professor Dr. Reinhold Förster and Professor Dr. Dirk Schlüter are involved in B-FAST.
More information about the “National Network of University Medicine on COVID-19” can be found on the Internet: https://www.netzwerk-universitaetsmedizin.de/.