PROMISE – Preparing for RSV Immunisation and Surveillance in Europe
 

Contact:                    Prof. Dr. med. Rafael Mikolajczyk, Dr. Cornelia Gottschick

Duration:                    01.11.2021 - 30.04.2024

Funding:                     European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Innovative
                                    Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking)


Summary:

The LoewenKIDS birth cohort study is part of the EU funded and Europe-wide project "PROMISE". The acronym PROMISE stands for "Preparing for RSV Immunization and Surveillance in Europe". In addition to the researchers from Halle, groups from nine other countries are involved. The aim is to expand scientific knowledge about the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) to inform public health authorities about better strategies, and to develop new therapeutics or vaccines.

For the PROMISE project, the LoewenKIDS birth cohort provides relevant data to confirm the relevance of a specific antibody (IgA) as a marker for prior RSV exposure in children aged 0 to 2 years. The LoewenKIDS cohort is valuable for this project, because it has collected information on infections in children from birth. This includes nasal swab samples for each acute respiratory infection and blood samples at the beginning of the first and second year of life of the children.