Researchers Receive Grant to Study COVID-19 as Part of Large National Study Students are given the opportunity to aid researchers in study at the Nutrition & Metabolic Health Initiative
Nik Dhurandhar, Ph.D., Kristina Petersen, Ph.D., Martin Binks, Ph.D. are participating researchers in a study being conducted at seven different sites across the United States to assess the incidence of infection or reinfection among those with and without a prior COVID-19 infection and evaluate the severity of infections or reinfection. The team received a grant from the Indiana University Foundation for the study titled Incidence of Infection or Reinfection in Healthy Adults With or Without Prior SARS-CoV-2 Infection: The AEGIS Study.
"The results from this 12-month study, which is being conducted at many sites across the U.S., will contribute to understanding the degree, durability, and correlates of immunity induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection and subsequent recovery as well as immunity from SARS-CoV-2 vaccination," Peterson said. "The study findings will contribute to further understanding COVID-19 and may assist with strategies to manage COVID-19 infection."
The AEGIS study runs for 12 months and recruits healthy adults with or without a documented prior Covid-19 infection. Participants must visit the university every eight weeks to have measurements, nasal swabs, and blood samples collected. The Texas Tech University site has enrolled close to 200 people from Lubbock and the surrounding community over the last three months. Several university students are working with the research team to collect data for the study.
"Student assistants enroll participants and are involved in data collection and data entry," Petersen said. "We also have students assisting by preparing COVID-19 testing kits and blood collection tubes needed at the study visits. Students are also involved in the blood processing and shipping of samples to commercial laboratories."
Ph.D. student Marleigh Hefner, RDN, LD, hopes she can take the skills she's learning through the study and apply them to her future endeavors digging deeper into the pathology of diseases.
"I have spent most of my time in the basic nutrition research area, working with cells and mice, and I knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity to work on this prestigious clinical study due to my interest in translational research," Hefner said. "It has been rewarding and exciting to see the process of recruitment, working with participants, and helping keep the AEGIS study flowing productively and smoothly."
The results of this study will be hugely important in battling the Covid-19 pandemic, and for students, it is an excellent opportunity to finetune their research skills.
"Being in this research study, I've gained a lot of clinical skills such as communication, phlebotomy experience, teamwork, and planning," Nutritional Sciences Ph.D. student Gaurav Kudchadkar said."“This study has given me the ability to think of new ideas, new possibilities, handling new challenges"”