Daniel Rabe,
Research Fellow,
Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, The Broad Institute
Dr. Daniel Rabe is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Shannon Stott at Massachusetts General Hospital. He seeks to elucidate crosstalk between tumor and immune cells through extracellular vesicles (EVs) to better understand how some tumors become metastatic and resistant to therapy. Dr. Rabe utilized novel microfluidics to capture and characterize EVs from patient blood to better understand their impact and utility as biomarkers in cancer and other diseases. By comparing EV signatures in patients to the tumor-immune infiltrate, Dr. Rabe seeks to better understand the role EVs play in the process of metastasis and therapy resistance. Additionally, he seeks to understand how signaling pathways in the tumor alter EV biology, and thereby alter the biology of the immune infiltrate.
Microfluidic Detection of SARS-CoV-2 and Virus-Related Extracellular Vesicles to Predict Outcome in COVID-19 Patients
Monday, 21 March 2022 at 15:30
Add to Calendar ▼2022-03-21 15:30:002022-03-21 16:30:00Europe/LondonMicrofluidic Detection of SARS-CoV-2 and Virus-Related Extracellular Vesicles to Predict Outcome in COVID-19 PatientsInnovations in Microfluidics and SCA 2022 in Boston, USABoston, USASELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
Robust, efficient, and reliable testing for SARS-CoV-2 is extraordinarily challenging due to lack of ultra-sensitive assays and evolving knowledge of the virus. Standard PCR based assays do not only provide only binary positivity outputs and have no information on the infectivity or potential outcome of patients. Many studies have shown the role of an over-active immune system during COVID infection leading to more serious outcomes. Our laboratory has applied microfluidic technologies for the isolation of cell-specific extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the blood of patients with cancer. We hypothesized that plasma viral load as well as COVID-related EVs can predict severity of disease. For this project, we optimized our EVHB-Chip to isolate intact SARS-CoV-2 virus as well as epithelial and immune EVs. By running each chip in series, we can isolate virus and EVs from the same patient plasma sample to determine how they differ between cases. We will utilize RNAseq of 10 less severe COVID-19 patients compared to 10 patients with severe disease requiring ICU care to determine cellular EV markers that can predict disease severity. Preliminary ddPCR of EV RNA has shown higher levels of CD14, CD45, CXCL1, and IL1B in innate immune EVs of severe COVID patients compared to less severe patients. Additionally, T-Cell EVs show higher levels of CCL5, CD3, and CD45 in patients with severe COVID. We have detected intact SARS-CoV-2 in the plasma of banked COVID-19 patient plasma. To determine the clinical efficacy of viral detection, we are testing 50 plasma samples within two days of COVID-19 diagnosis and will compare viral load to patient outcome. Using COVID-19 infection related EVs in addition to intact SARS-CoV-2 viral detection, our assay has the potential to provide further insight into the potential infectivity and outcome for COVID-19 patients. Our results show that EV analysis of COVID-19 patients has the potential to help predict disease severity. It is essential to determine which patients are more likely to need intensive care and intervention as this deadly pandemic continues to spread.
Add to Calendar ▼2022-03-21 00:00:002022-03-22 00:00:00Europe/LondonInnovations in Microfluidics and SCA 2022Innovations in Microfluidics and SCA 2022 in Boston, USABoston, USASELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
Add to Calendar ▼2022-03-21 15:30:002022-03-21 16:30:00Europe/LondonMicrofluidic Detection of SARS-CoV-2 and Virus-Related Extracellular Vesicles to Predict Outcome in COVID-19 PatientsInnovations in Microfluidics and SCA 2022 in Boston, USABoston, USASELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
