Experimental pathology and in vivo-modelling of SARS-CoV-2 infection in different hamster species (Z01b)

• Subject Area: Pathology
• Term: from 2010 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 114933180

A mechanistic understanding of the lethal outcome of COVID-19 as well as the development and testing of novel therapies and vaccines are highly contingent upon the availability of an appropriate model system that allows to reproduce relevant aspects of SARS-CoV-2 infection. As human tissues are highly limited for this purpose and current alternative in vitro-models still fail to simulate the disease in its entire complexity, animal models are still indispensable for these goals. For various reasons, several hamster species have recently been established as the most promising in vivomodels. We here aim to understand these models in their similarities and differences to human COVID-19, optimize their applications and implement digital image analyses, tissue banking and repeated use modalities of archived material. Following established 3R principles, we support the CRC-TR84 consortium in the rapid development and safe testing of new therapies and vaccines.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 84: Innate Immunity of the Lung: Mechanisms of Pathogen Attack and Host Defence in Pneumonia
• Applicant Institution: shared FU Berlin and HU Berlin through:; Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Project Heads: Professor Achim Dieter Gruber, Ph.D.; Dr. Jakob Trimpert