Characterisation of the Biomolecular Signature of COVID-19 in Human Adult and Children Blood through Label-free Raman Spectroscopy

目前，我们不知道无症状新冠肺炎携带者的比例，因为只有最严重的病例才会进行检测。与此同时，这种病毒似乎也会在儿童身上表现出惰性。这些携带者的病毒载量可能很高，症状通常只在疾病发作后第二周内出现，这突显了对快速筛查工具的需要。唯一可用的筛查感染的工具是放在鼻子里的拭子的聚合酶链式反应测试。然而，这些检测并不是针对大众的，因为它们成本高昂，需要大量的医疗材料，需要花费2小时才能得出结果。目前，迫切需要开发一种健壮的、无标记(不需要造影剂)的筛查技术，允许快速诊断。 为了满足这一需求，我们建议开发一种基于无标记拉曼光谱和机器学习技术的新型筛查测试，以研究儿童和成人血液中病毒的生物分子特征。这项工作将与ods Medical(我们的工业合作伙伴)合作进行，后者在开发用于癌症检测的拉曼光谱方面拥有丰富的专业知识。拉曼光谱是一种新兴的检测和鉴定生物分子的光学技术。此前，拉曼光谱用于研究登革热或疟疾患者的呼吸道合胞病毒和血液变化。我们假设人类具有新冠肺炎的特定签名，并且我们的新技术能够以一种无标记的方法识别这些生物分子变化。 该项目将阐明感染SARS-CoV-2的人血液的拉曼生物分子特征，允许通过学习模型开发新的方法来表征生物流体。由于拉曼光谱采集需要几秒钟到几分钟的时间，而且成本低，其快速筛查的潜力可以控制病毒的传播，特别是在存在不止一波具有更多突变的情况下。

Currently, we do not know the proportion of asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers because only the most severe cases are tested. In parallel, the virus also appears to be indolent in children. These carriers can have a high viral load and symptoms often only appear within the second week after the disease onset, which highlights the need for a rapid screening tool. The only available tool to screen for infections is PCR tests of swabs that were put in the nose. However, these tests are not meant for mass population as they are costly, require significant quantities of medical materials, and take up 2h to obtain results. Currently, there is an urgent need to develop a robust, label-free (no need of contrast agent) screening technique that allows for rapid diagnosis. To address this need, we propose to develop a novel screening test based on label-free Raman spectroscopy coupled with machine learning technology to study the biomolecular signature of the virus in blood from both children and adults. This work will occur in collaboration with ODS Medical (our industrial partner), which has extensive expertise in the development of Raman spectroscopy for cancer detection. Raman spectroscopy is an emerging optical technique to detect and identify biomolecules. Previously, Raman spectroscopy was used to study the respiratory syncytial virus and changes in blood from patients with Dengue or Malaria fever. We hypothesize that human has a specific signature of COVID-19 and that our novel technique is capable to identify these biomolecular changes in a label-free approach. This project will elucidate the Raman biomolecular signature of blood from human infected with SARS-CoV-2, allowing the development of new methods to characterize biofluids through learning models. As Raman spectroscopy acquisition takes seconds to minutes and is low-cost, its potential for rapid-screening could allow control of virus spread, particularly if there is more than one wave with more mutations.