Skip to main content

Research: How does COVID affect different body tissues and organs?

National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding helps advance the understanding, prevention, and treatment of the long-term effects of COVID-19, also known as Long COVID. Some doctors and scientists refer to Long COVID as post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC).

The RECOVER Initiative has awarded over $37 million in funding for more than 40 pathobiology research projects.

These pathobiology studies look at biological mechanisms—processes that take place inside the body and its cells—to help us understand Long COVID.

The studies use various research methods including the examination of blood, saliva, and other samples (called biospecimens) and other data collected in RECOVER and existing Long COVID studies.

The findings from these pathobiology studies will tell us more about:

  • the traits of people at higher risk of developing Long COVID
  • the differences in the parts of the body affected by Long COVID
  • ways of diagnosing Long COVID
  • options for treating and preventing Long COVID

Looking for other RECOVER Research Awardees? Visit the RECOVER Researchers page.

See Funding Announcements for more information on RECOVER research awards.

Visit RECOVER Publications to view published pathobiology studies.

RECOVER Pathobiology Awards

With funding from RECOVER, awards were made to applications received in response to either the Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Availability of Administrative Supplements for Research on Pathobiological Mechanisms of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection, or the Research Opportunity Announcement OTA-21-015E: Research on Pathobiological Mechanisms Underpinning the Clinical Phenotypes, Symptomatic Manifestations, and Multi-tissue/organ Pathology of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection.

Title Principal Investigator Institution
Role of Sleep in PASC Recovery and the Development of Immunological Memory Monika Haack Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Molecular Determination of Risk for PASC by High Sensitivity Serological Analyses of Inflammatory Pathway Markers, Prior Viral Histories and Autoantibodies David Walt Brigham and Women's Hospital
Cardiac Inflammatory and Microvascular Alterations Associated with Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Robert Padera Brigham and Women's Hospital
Machine Learning-Assisted Characterization of Cardiovascular Long COVID-19 Masanori Aikawa Brigham and Women's Hospital
Cerebral Microvascular Integrity in Children With and Without Persistent Central Nervous System Symptomatology John C. Wood Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Viral and Host Genomics Influences on the Phenotypic Expression of COVID-19 Infection and Its Sequelae in Children of Varied Genetic Ancestries Sindhu Mohandas Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Features and Functions of ACE2 Autoantibodies that Developed after SARS-CoV-2 Infection Christopher Todd Bradley Children's Mercy Hospital
Improving Understanding and Diagnosis of Post-Acute Sequelae of the SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PASC) in the Heart: A Cardiac Magnetic Resonance and Autopsy Study Aloke V. Finn CVPath Institute
Long COVID in the Eye (LoCEYE) Study with the RECOVER Initiative Ighovwerha Ofotokun Emory University
Metabolic and Epigenetic Mechanisms of PASC Rafick Sekaly Emory University
Elucidating Genetic and Environmental Second Hits in Racial and Ethnic Minorities with APOL1 High-Risk Genotypes Girish Nitin Nadkarni Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Immune and Neurovascular Signatures of Psychiatric Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Scott Russo Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
From Big Data to Big Knowledge and AI: Connecting Multi-omics COVID-19 Cohort Data to Knowledge Graphs to Explain Pathophysiological Mechanisms of Long-COVID Sui Huang Institute for Systems Biology
Sex, Obesity, Immunometabolism, and Viral Persistence in Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Andrea L. Cox Johns Hopkins University
Metabolic Dysfunction, Viral Persistence and Bioenergetic T-Cell Fatigue in Post-Acute SARS-CoV2 Clifford J. Rosen MaineHealth
Imaging Neuroglial Mechanisms of Neuropathic Pain-Opioid Interaction in HIV Marco Luciano Loggia Massachusetts General Hospital
Mechanisms of Long-term Taste Loss in Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 Hong Wang Monell Chemical Senses Center
Prenatal Immune Activation and Maternal Mental Health as Predictors of Infant Sleep and Cognitive Development Moriah Thomason New York University Grossman School of Medicine
Pathogenic Mechanisms of Neuro-PASC in Older Adults Kristen Knutson Northwestern University
Post-Acute Metabolic Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Nonhuman Primates Charles T. Roberts Oregon Health and Science University
Post Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) Investigators Consortium Phase 2: Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Lawrence Kleinman Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Obesity, Insulin Resistance, and PASC: Persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection and Inflammation in Human Adipose Tissue Catherine Blish Stanford University
Characterization of Autoantibodies in PASC Paul J. Utz Stanford University
Understanding Adaptive and Innate Immune Cell Dysfunction in Patients with PASC Purvesh Khatri Stanford University
Sequencing B Cell Repertoires to Elucidate Autoantibodies and the Role of EBV in PASC William Robinson Stanford University
Autonomic Complications of PASC Mitchell Miglis Stanford University
GenoMISC: Genetic Determinants of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome after SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Children (MIS-C) Mark Russell The Regents of the University of Michigan
Role of NLRP3 Signals in Ischemia/Reperfusion-Induced Organ Injury Diane B. McKay The Scripps Research Institute
Functional Immune Responses in Children with Post-Acute Sequelae SARS-CoV-2 Infection Thomas Connors The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
Tryptophan Metabolism and Microbiome in Long-COVID Related Kidney Disease Kumar Sharma The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Long-term Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Diabetes Mellitus Ralph DeFronzo The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Origins of Post-Acute Sequelae SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PASC) Lung Fibrosis Amit Gaggar University of Alabama at Birmingham
Tissue and Organ Specific Human B Cell Immunity: Supplement -- Metabolic Risk Factors and Inflammation in PASC Development Frances E. Lund University of Alabama at Birmingham
Deciphering the Link Between Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus 2 Infection and Long-Term Neurological and Pulmonary Sequelae Xin Sun University of California, San Diego
Host Response to SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Its Role in PASC Bellur Prabhakar University of Illinois at Chicago
Cerebral Vascular Pathology of COVID-19 Michal Toborek University of Miami School of Medicine
Pathophysiological Mechanisms of PASC: Inflammatory Mediators of Endothelial Dysfunction in the RECOVER Cohort Ellen Kraig The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Neurological Sequelae Associated with Post-Acute SARS-CoV-2 Infection (NEURO-PASC) Amy Salisbury Virginia Commonwealth University
Epigenetic Alterations and Phenotypes in Innate Immune Cells and Their Progenitors in PASC Steven Zvi Josefowicz Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Viral and Immune-Mediated CNS Pathology During SARS-CoV-2 Infection Akiko Iwasaki Yale University
Cerebrospinal Fluid in PASC: A Window into the COVID Mind Serena S. Spudich Yale University
Back to Top