Insights into the Pathogenesis of COVID-19 as Revealed by Spatial Biology

Understanding the complex interplay between a pathogen and the host response is important to developing effective vaccines and therapeutics. The nCounter® Analysis System and GeoMx® Digital Spatial Profiler (DSP) from NanoString enable researchers to rapidly perform high-plex experiments in key areas of biology that answer questions related to the effect of pathogen infection at the molecular, cellular, tissue, and individual level. The nCounter has been utilized in hundreds of publications on pathogens and the associated host response, including in several recent studies on COVID-19.

NanoString has developed an 1,800+ RNA panel for GeoMx DSP to facilitate spatial gene expression profiling of the SARs-CoV-2 virus and host response and is currently developing a five-antibody custom protein module for spatial protein analysis. These assays will include SARs-CoV-2 viral markers and the ACE2 receptor, among other receptors, proteases, cell markers, and viral response markers.

In this webinar, Joseph Beechem, Ph.D., NanoString Chief Scientific Officer & Senior Vice President, Research and Development, will open by summarizing recent insights into how the host responds to SARs-CoV-2 and Christopher E. Mason, Ph.D., Associate Professor Weill Cornell Medicine, will conclude by discussing a recent investigation into spatial gene expression differences seen in COVID-19 lung tissue vs. non-COVID-19 lung tissue and healthy controls.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn how bulk gene expression assays and spatial biology can be used to study COVID-19

2. Understand how the host immune system responds to SARs-CoV-2 infection

3. Learn about gene expression changes seen in COVID-19 lung samples vs. healthy controls