Causes of chronic illness: identifying risk factors and biomarkers of post-acute infection syndromes

Open to students

Post-acute infection syndromes (PAIS) are debilitating chronic conditions which disproportionately affect women as early as adolescence and into midlife. Triggered by infection with viruses and other pathogens these syndromes include Long COVID, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).

These conditions share symptoms and are often diagnosed in parallel. However, the pathogenic causes of these conditions remain unknown and therefore limiting treatment options and delaying diagnosis. There are multiple hypothesised causes of these chronic conditions including self-reactive autoantibodies which can target tissue causing damage, immune dysfunction, metabolic impairments and perturbations of coagulation pathways.

Objective

The aim of this project is to understand the disease mechanisms behind post-acute infection syndromes in different populations and to identify biomarkers of disease for diagnostic and intervention development.

Timeline

2023–ongoing.

Approach

We're characterising changes in the immune system of people living with a post-acute infection syndrome. In addition, we are performing clinical research studies assessing the impact of COVID-19 infection outcomes on different immunocompromised cohorts, such as people with asplenia.

This includes reporting on COVID-19 infections, hospitalisation and symptoms of long COVID. We'll apply this approach to other cohorts to compare different risk factors. We're also recruiting participants who have long COVID to screen for biomarkers of disease.

Community impact

Identifying who is at risk of developing long COVID and other post-acute infection syndromes, and identifying biomarkers of these diseases, are essential to improve diagnosis, inform patient care and improve quality of life.

Student opportunities

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Quantifying the presence of autoantibodies

Students will develop and perform serological assays to quantify the presence of autoantibodies to a range of different human antigens. They will screen plasma/serum samples isolated from people living with post-acute infection syndromes and integrate these data with matched patient reported outcomes. The detection of elevated autoantibodies will be validated using functional in vitro assays and/or imaging techniques.

Students will work within a multidisciplinary collaborative team of virologists, immunologists, infectious diseases physicians, and research nurses across two major health services (Monash Health and Alfred Health) and physicians from long COVID clinics.

Students will have opportunities to coordinate the collection and processing of blood samples taken from study participants, to collaborate with consumer health organisations and to perform quality of life research in parallel.

Top up scholarships and honours scholarships are available.