The role of interferon-expressing neutrophils in COVID-19 pathogenesis

Neutrophils have classically been considered short-lived, transcriptionally inactive, terminally differentiated cells. However, there is growing appreciation for the heterogeneity of this cell type and their gene expression changes during infection. Neutrophils have been implicated in COVID-19 pathogenesis, particularly through the dysregulated release of extracellular traps (NETs), which have been shown to be elevated in hospitalized patients.In this webinar, Dylan Sheerin, research officer at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, will discuss research performed to determine the transcriptional programs underlying neutrophil-related pathogenesis and whether a phenotype likely to exhibit dysregulated responses could be identified by performing single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) using the Honeycomb HIVE™ solution on neutrophils isolated from individuals who had recovered from COVID-19.This analysis revealed transcriptional divergence in steady-state neutrophils between individuals with distinct COVID-19 infection outcomes. This divergence persisted over the course of ex vivo re-infection with SARS-CoV-2, indicating that these IFN-expressing neutrophils may represent a prognostic phenotype and influence disease outcome.

Key learning objectives

• Understand: The role that neutrophils play in COVID-19 pathology
• Explore the considerations for capturing infected neutrophils for single-cell applications
• Learn more about the performance of the Honeycomb HIVE solution on human granulocytes
• Discover the differences in neutrophil clusters between individuals across the spectrum of COVID-19 disease history upon ex vivo re-infection with SARS-CoV-2
• Learn more about the performance of the Honeycomb HIVE on infected human whole blood samples

Who should attend?

• Researchers preforming scRNA-seq
• Researchers interested in learning more about scRNA-seq
• Researchers identifying or validating targets
• Immunology researchers
• Researchers working with fragile cell types
• Researchers collaborating across the globe
• Core facilities

Certificate of attendance

All webinar participants can request a certificate of attendance, including a learning outcomes summary, for continuing education purposes.