The national immunity platform COVIM (COllaboratiVe IMmunity Platform of the NUM) is entering its third funding period. The aim of this period is to consolidate COVIM’s position as a new Research Infrastructure for immunology within the NUM. To this end, the current number of sites is set to increase significantly: The long-term aim is for 25 sites to form part of COVIM. In addition, binding standards and coordinated processes will be established in the participating reference and testing laboratories. This is intended to create a central foundation for innovative clinical research. The funding period runs until 31 December 2029.
The project will be led by Prof. Dr Dr Susanne Herold (Academic Medical Centre Giessen), Prof. Dr Maike Hofmann (Academic Medical Centre Freiburg), Prof. Dr Florian Klein (Academic Medical Centre Cologne) and Prof. Dr Leif Erik Sander (Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin). “In many cases, there is a lack of validated, standardised and scalable methods for characterising complex immune responses. COVIM is designed to address this need. For my colleagues and me, the aim of the new funding period is to clearly position COVIM as a key national infrastructure for research questions in immunology,” emphasises Prof. Dr. Florian Klein, Director of Virology at Academic Medical Centre.
Even during the first two funding phases, COVIM was able to make decisive contributions to our understanding of immunity in over 100 scientific articles, which have been cited on numerous occasions as the basis for national recommendations.