Work Packages

The objective is to harmonize the patient selection and sample processing. EPIVINF works with different cohorts established in three European countries and researchers will dedicate significant efforts to ensure that clinical profiles are comparable and controlled, but also that the samples are processed following comparable protocols. This is important so that the downstream analyses and results can be properly compared.

This WP also covers tasks related to data protection, ethics committee approvals and interactions with regulatory agencies to plan future development of novel strategies for personalized medicines.

We aim to better understand the molecular pathways that are epigenetically disrupted due to acute HIV or SARS-CoV-2 infection and which:
a) determine the severity of HIV- and COVID19 disease course and
b) are related to the loss of immune control over co-pathogens. 

The overall objective of WP3 is to test the hypothesis that epigenetic control mechanisms, especially DNA methylation processes that govern the expression of host proteins involved in antiviral immunity to HIV and SARS-CoV-2, play a decisive role in the outcome of vaccination for these pathogens. 

The objective of this WP is to better understand the molecular pathways that are epigenetically dysregulated due to HIV or SARS-CoV-2 infection, and which thus lead to severe and persistent neurological disease. 

The objective of WP5 is to validate epigenetic signatures observed in HIV and SARS-CoV-2 infection using in vitro experimentation and animal models. These studies will help us to advance identified lead candidates towards therapeutic use in personalized treatment strategies. 

Three main aspects are covered in this work package:

• Central data storing, cleaning, normalization and pre-processing
• Systems biology analysis using network-based approaches
• Making the data and models accessible to researchers within the consortium and to other researchers in Europe and worldwide as web-based solutions

The aim of WP7 is to ensure that 1) the overall scientific and administrative management is steered in a proper way to achieve project objectives and comply with EU Commission guidelines; 2) to implement an effective responsible research and innovation (RRI), dissemination and communication strategy that will enable stakeholders’ engagement and involvement with other consortia and 3) to put in place an exploitation plan. 

The objective is to ensure compliance with the ethics requirements set out in this work package.