Seattle-based Adaptive Biotechnologies and Microsoft have launched an open-access database called ImmuneCODE to catalog the many ways in which our immune systems fight off a coronavirus infection.

  • The project leverages data from an Adaptive-Microsoft clinical study known as ImmuneRACE, along with de-identified data from thousands of additional samples collected from COVID-19 patients around the world. Researchers are hoping to study how T cells in the patients’ blood identify particles of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and target them for destruction.
  • Adaptive Biotechnologies’ chief scientific officer and co-founder, Harlan Robins, said in a news release that within a few months, the project should generate enough data “to accurately map how the adaptive immune system responds to SARS-CoV-2 from initial exposure through clearance by using our combined immune medicine platform and machine learning.” Other Seattle-area institutions participating in the project include Providence Health, the Institute for Systems Biology and BloodWorks Northwest.
  • The goal for ImmuneCODE is to identify the most effective T cell responses to viral antigens, and take advantage of those findings to develop better diagnostics, drugs and vaccines. The project could also produce better ways to assess immunity in patients who have recovered from COVID-19. Check out this GeekWire Health Tech Podcast for more about Adaptive Biotechnologies’ collaboration with Microsoft on COVID-19 studies.
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