By Ben Kerrigan-
The Uk is supporting three national studies to fund research into understanding the human responses to the coronavirus pandemic.
The funds will help scientists develop better immunity tests and understand why Covid-19 affects people differently, with some having mild or asymptomatic symptoms and others suffering life threatening conditions.
Today, the launch of the new UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium (UK-CIC), which aims to answer key questions on how the immune system interacts with SARS-CoV-2 to help fight COVID-19 and develop better diagnostics, treatments and vaccines.
It seeks to understand why it makes some people sick and not others, what constitutes effective immunity and how long might that immunity last?
The UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium has received £6.5million of funding over 12 months from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the largest immunology grant awarded to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
UK-CIC aims to deliver meaningful benefit for public health by providing insights critical for improving patient management, developing new therapies, assessing immunity within the population and developing diagnostics and vaccines.
Professor Tracy Hussell, Theme Lead for UK-CIC, from The University of Manchester said: “The immune system is one of the most complicated systems in the human body but understanding how it reacts during and after infection with SARS-CoV-2 is critical to our ability to control this pandemic.
“This immune system response not only dictates how quickly you can clear the virus but also how sick you will get, as well as how long any immunity generated to the virus might last. The UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium wants to look at what happens on a cellular and molecular level when someone contracts COVID-19 and find out what exactly their immune system is doing.
We will work with colleagues around the country to build our understanding of how different people react to COVID-19 with the ultimate aim of improving patient care at all levels.”