Biosamples from RECOVER’s youngest participants can unlock discoveries about pediatric Long COVID
RECOVER’s collection of biosamples from children, teens, and young adults will enable additional research to answer questions about Long COVID for years to come.
Since 2021, more than 15,000 children, teens, and young adults participating in RECOVER’s pediatric observational study have contributed to RECOVER’s repository of biosamples. These contributions—part of the 1.5 million total biosamples collected from RECOVER study participants—will continue during the next phase of the pediatric study.
These biosamples will enable new ancillary studies for years to come. Ancillary studies are independent research projects that use RECOVER data and biosamples to answer questions about Long COVID that go beyond the initial RECOVER study plans (or protocols). Studies using these biosamples will help researchers learn more about how and why Long COVID causes changes in the bodies of children, teens, and young adults.
“There is overall less awareness of Long COVID in children, and there are fewer researchers focused on pediatric Long COVID,” said Rachel Gross, MD, MS, principal investigator at the RECOVER Clinical Science Core at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “We need to raise awareness that RECOVER has this incredibly valuable resource that will help us better understand how this condition affects children.”
Biosamples collected in RECOVER studies
RECOVER currently has about 200,000 pediatric biosamples available for study. When participants enrolled in the pediatric study, they gave a saliva (spit) sample and a blood sample. The blood sample was collected in a way that takes less blood from each participant (a process called a Tasso-derived dried bloodspot).
A small group of participants—those who had an active SARS-CoV-2 infection (the virus that causes COVID-19) when they signed up for the study—were also asked to give an additional blood sample. This sample collected whole blood, which includes white blood cells, serum, and plasma. During the study, about 3,000 additional participants gave another blood sample during at least 1 study visit.
Biosamples such as blood and saliva help researchers conduct pathobiology studies. In this type of study, researchers examine the biological mechanisms associated with Long COVID, or changes happening inside the bodies of people with the condition. Better information about biological mechanisms can help support Long COVID prevention or the development of treatments that target the root causes of Long COVID symptoms.
RECOVER’s plans for future biosample collection
RECOVER’s repository of biosamples will keep growing as the pediatric study continues over the next 2 years. In the next phase of the study, participants will contribute 2 more blood samples. They will also contribute oral swabs, nasal swabs, skin swabs, urine (pee), and stool (poop) once during this phase of the study.
Participants will also contribute 1 new biosample that was not collected during the first phase of the study: a hair sample. Researchers expect to learn important information from a hormone present in hair called cortisol.
“What hair gives us is a look at long-term exposure to stress,” Dr. Gross explained. “In the blood, hormone levels fluctuate across each collection, but hair allows us to look at stress level over years.”
The study team also plans to collect blood samples that will allow them to study mononuclear blood cells, a specific type of blood cell that can provide information about how the immune system is functioning.
Dr. Gross encouraged Long COVID researchers who haven’t yet studied the condition’s impact on children to consider whether their research could also apply to them. “There is a lot of room for collaboration between adult and pediatric Long COVID researchers,” she said. “There are so many underlying [biological] mechanisms that have been found in adults that also need to be explored in children.”
How researchers can study these biosamples
Ongoing pathobiology studies are an important part of RECOVER’s research portfolio. Between 2022 and 2024, RECOVER awarded funding to 66 different pathobiology studies. Additional pathobiology studies that will receive RECOVER funding will be announced soon.
RECOVER also currently has 2 research opportunities available for teams that would like to apply to study available biosamples. The following opportunities are open to both RECOVER researchers and researchers not affiliated with RECOVER:
- Research Opportunity Announcement OTA-21-015L. Research teams can apply for both funding and access to RECOVER data and biosamples. Available biosamples were collected during both observational studies and clinical trials. Learn about this funding opportunity.
- Ancillary studies. Research teams with independent funding can apply to conduct a study using RECOVER data and biosamples. Read about the submission process.
Findings from these studies will contribute to RECOVER’s larger collection of pathobiology research. To date, RECOVER pathobiology studies have led to more than 40 publications, examining parts of the body such as antibodies, the immune system, and specific types of cells such as T cells. Read the latest pathobiology findings.
