GeNeuro and Verily will work together to investigate biomarkers related to activation of the proinflammatory HERV-W envelope protein (W-ENV) in SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Through this collaboration, the companies will build on results published earlier this year, which evidenced the in vitro activation of HERV-W by SARS-CoV-2 in susceptible individuals and the correlation between W-ENV protein levels in serum and lymphocytes with Covid-19 severity.
“Our research indicates that W-ENV contributes to Covid-19 disease severity and may explain manifestations of long Covid,” said Dr Hervé Perron, Chief Scientific Officer of GeNeuro. “This collaboration with Verily advances GeNeuro’s ambitions to treat patients with long Covid using a personalised medicine approach through biomarker identification of those more likely to present with severe disease.”
Verily will provide high-resolution multi-omic data generated from Covid-19 patient samples using its immune mapping platform, along with high-powered data analysis.
“We are excited to partner with GeNeuro to advance our shared belief that identification of actionable biomarkers early in disease can advance precision health and save lives,” said Charlie Kim, Head of Molecular Science at Verily. “This could be an important step toward earlier, more targeted interventions for patients with long Covid.”
