$1.2M grant aims to investigate the immune response of LTC residents to COVID-19 vaccines

published on March 1, 2021 in SFU

FHS professors Mark Brockman and Zabrina Brumme are co-leading a study with Dr. Marc Romney, the Medical Lead for Microbiology and Virology at Providence Health Care, to examine the strength and durability of immune responses in residents and staff of long-term care facilities following COVID-19 vaccination. Their study partners include UBC and the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, an institute known for its innovations in viral molecular medicine where Dr. Brumme serves as the Laboratory Director.

Residents of long-term care (LTC) facilities are at increased risk for serious outcomes of COVID-19. As vaccines are now being offered to this priority population, the Government of Canada has awarded Brockman, Brumme and Romney $1.2 million through Canada's COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF) to study vaccine-induced immune responses in residents and staff of local long-term care residences. The team will also investigate viral, immunological and social factors that contributed to COVID-19 outbreaks in LTC facilities, to better understand why the disease has been fatal to so many residents.

Brockman and Brumme willlead the charge in the study’s laboratory analyses. Research is taking place at St. Paul's Hospital and SFU, including in SFU's level 3 biocontainment lab, where Brockman, Brumme and SFU professors Masahiro Niikura, Ralph Pantophlet and Jonathan Choy will apply cutting-edge methods to assess antibody and cellular immune responses to the vaccines.

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Laboratory

Mark Brockman

Zabrina Brumme

BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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$1.2M grant aims to investigate the immune response of LTC residents to COVID-19 vaccines

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