Immunoengineering

National Institute Of Biomedical Imaging And Bioengineering, Bethesda

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in the US Population and Rare Disease Patients Previously we established a range of antibody tests to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence (JoCI, 2021, Nat Comms 2021, JID 2021) in the US population (STM 2021, medRxiv) and abroad including Africa and Southeast Asia (CID 2022, JID 2021, EID 2022). We are continuing to study US seroprevalence over the course of a year from 2020 to 2021 and are finalizing the analysis of that study, which includes data on undiagnosed reinfections and undiagnosed vaccination breakthrough infections. We are also looking at seroprevalence in a population of rare disease patients during the same timeframe. We expect both of these studies to be submitted for publication by the end of this calendar year. Antibody production from SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in immunodeficient patients We have adapted our SARS-CoV-2 seroassays for evaluation of immune response to vaccination in immunocompromised/immunodeficient patients. Through this we have also transitioned our seroassays to the Bioengineering and Physical Sciences shared resource (BEPS) wherein any NIH scientist can request these to be completed in a for-service manner. We expect the first publication of this study to be submitted by the end of the calendar year. SARS-CoV-2 in trauma admits and correlation with drug use As our lab is interested in the immunologic responses to trauma and downstream effects on tissue growth and regeneration, we evaluated the intersection with SARS-CoV-2 through a seroprevalence evaluation. In this study we were able to show that trauma admits had a higher prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in comparison to the general population. We also saw a correlation with drug usage, wherein individuals on depressants were less likely to be seropositive for SARS-CoV-2. We have preprinted this study and expect to submit this for publication by the end of 2022. Immunologic self-tolerance in trauma and biomaterial implantation As we finalize our work on SARS-CoV-2 we began our biomaterials research in earnest, and have preprinted our first biomaterials work wherein we describe a dendritic cell subset that appears to be critical in regulating the immune response to trauma. We showed both a putative mechanism of their recruitment, as well as the role of these cells in controlling T cell activation and minimizing further tissue damage after the initial trauma. Interactions between white fat and immunity after injury in a super healing mouse model The MRL/MpJ mouse is famous for being able to fully heal an ear punch in comparison to the C57BL/6 mouse which scars. We wanted to investigate the difference in immune responses to pro-regenerative versus pro-fibrotic materials in the MRL versus B6 models. We found a strong upregulation of adipogenesis in the MRL model with large, disperse numbers of white fat cells noted histologically, and white fat genetic programs upregulated as determined by RNAseq. We are currently evaluating the immunologic differences and hope to have this manuscript submitted by November 2022. Immune responses to trauma in a rat model In order to expand our findings to different species, we developed a flow cytometry panel to evaluate immune responses to muscle trauma in a rat model. We developed the largest flow cytometry panel currently published and used it to characterize immune cells in a muscle injury model in a rat. This manuscript was published in Cells, Tissues, and Organs in the Young Investigators Award issue. Adusei et al. CTO. Systemic responses to trauma in human patients at hospital admission As we expanded our analyses of immune responses to trauma in different species, we continued to develop our evaluation of human immune response to trauma. We evaluated systemic immune profile of trauma admits at the time of admission and we found several correlations with age, and are currently assembling a full database of biomarker data alongside clinical information of 1500 patients which we will be analyzing in the coming weeks.