Unity Health Toronto

Purpose

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), is commonly diagnosed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect viral RNA in patient samples. While pathogen diagnosis is critical, patient outcomes vary depending upon the host’s immune response to the virus. Currently, there are no tests that inform - at the point-of-need - how to risk stratify patients once they test positive for SARS-CoV2. Identifying subgroups of COVID patients that are more likely to require specific therapies, tertiary level care or who are safe to be discharged home with minimal monitoring will significantly improve the ability to plan and prepare while preserving resources when individuals are unlikely to have severe disease. Currently, there are no methods to differentiate early-on an individual who will remain asymptomatic from one who will require advanced treatments. Using genomic precision medicine technology, the PRecision mEDIcine for CriTical Care (PREDICT), The Recipient with their collaborators identified an 8-gene expression signature that has the potential to identify COVID patients at risk for significant morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis combined with determination of categories of risk should aid significantly in therapeutic treatment of COVID patients and preparedness for future pandemics. In this Project, the Recipient aims to determine if the 8-gene expression signature can be set-up on the PowerBlade Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) platform with the view to establishing fast and accurate detection of patient-precision marks in a critical care setting.