NEW YORK — Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center said on Wednesday that it has partnered with nonprofit healthcare system Catholic Health and the University of Buffalo to identify biomarkers that can predict COVID-19 patients likely to develop severe disease.
Called the Western New York Immunogenomic COVID-19 Study, the project will sequence and analyze T cell and B cell immune receptors in blood samples from consenting COVID-19 patients at Roswell Park and Catholic Health hospitals and healthcare facilities, with support from academic collaborators from the University of Buffalo's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
"We've seen a huge variation in how COVID-19 affects people," Carl Morrison, senior vice president of scientific development and integrative medicine at Roswell Park, said in a statement. "Together, the repertoire of T and B cell immune receptors could determine a person's immune signature for COVID-19."
Thermo Fisher Scientific has agreed to provide data analysis support, as well as discounted Ion Torrent gene sequencers and Oncomine immune-repertoire assays for use in the study, Roswell Park said. Nonprofit 11 Day Power Play has contributed $150,000 to fund the study, which is expected to cost $1 million.