Understanding How Age Influences Susceptibility to Coronavirus Infection

Many viruses that infect the lung, such as SARS, MERS, and SARS-CoV2, manifest dramatically different outcomes in patients of different ages. However, different pathologies are not always explained by changes to the viral infection or immune recognition of the virus. This team will use a mouse model to investigate how coronaviruses cause more severe effects in the elderly. They will use single-cell sequencing approaches to explore epigenetic changes in young and aged cells that drive changes to disease and inflammation.