Characterising the immune response in COVID-19

Some people with COVID-19 are entirely unaffected and some people become extremely ill. There is evidence to suggest that those who become severely ill have what is often referred to as a "cytokine storm". This means their own immune system has gone into overdrive and is causing the harm.

This research will look at the immune system response of a range of hospitalised COVID-19 patients using very advanced blood analysis. What it hopes to find are similarities between patients with similar levels of illness. This would mean that we would better understand what existing treatments might be effective for the most ill patients. It would also mean that we could target future research more specifically.