In our new series, 鈥淐onfidence, Courage, Hope,鈥� we profile exceptional 61传媒students, alumnae, faculty, and staff who are making a difference鈥揻rom the local to the global鈥揳t the front lines of COVID-19. As we face these unprecedented challenges, the 61传媒 community comes together for inspiration and solidarity in this unique moment in history.
As the coronavirus continues to spread in many US states, scientists the world over are feverishly searching for new ways to test, track, and treat patients with COVID-19. Cameron Statton 鈥�16 is among those at the vanguard of these developing technologies, serving as the program manager for the Antigen Map Project within Microsoft Health聽NExT.
The Antigen Map Project is an ongoing partnership between Adaptive Biotechnologies and Microsoft, with the aim of diagnosing, preventing, and possibly even treating disease by reading individuals鈥� cellular immune response.
鈥淵our immune system is an amazing diagnostic tool, detecting and fighting nearly all diseases using a similar mechanism. Essentially, your immune system tells a story about the things your body is fighting, past and present. The key is being able to translate that story into something we can actually understand and use,鈥� explains Statton. 鈥淐OVID-19 fits naturally into this project, as it is another infection that your body’s immune system reacts to. As we collect samples from people actively fighting this disease, we can analyze the immune response and develop models to provide improved diagnostics, predict outcomes, and inform treatment.鈥�
Currently, two types of testing dominate COVID-19 diagnostics. The first is the Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, which tries to directly detect viral genetic material. This is the type of test you would likely be administered if you reported symptoms of COVID-19 at a hospital. The second is a serology test, which measures the presence or absence of antibodies in the blood. Yet both tests have their limitations.
鈥淧CR tests聽are typically very聽precise, but聽they can miss cases if swabs aren鈥檛 done correctly or if viral genetic material is聽at very low abundance,鈥� says Statton. 鈥淎nd while antibodies are聽cheap and fast to measure, antibodies聽can take a while to聽build up in your body, then persist for many months after the infection has cleared, making this test ineffective for diagnosing active infection and creating a risk for a high number of false negatives if taken too early. There may also be false positives due to other types of coronaviruses with similar antibodies.鈥�
To fill this gap in testing reliability, Statton and her team are aiming to develop a third type of test: They are looking at the T-cells in the immune system,聽one of聽the body鈥檚聽earliest聽and fastest聽defenses, which allows for earlier and more accurate detection. 鈥淭here is evidence that the strength and nature of the T-cell response聽may determine聽how severe聽a person鈥檚 symptoms will be,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o,聽we are hopeful that our test may also be able to provide information on how different people are responding to the virus, including severity, risk, and immunity, allowing for more optimized treatment.鈥�
If they can predict the severity of disease, it will allow for better management of healthcare resources. In addition to the diagnostic potential, the ability to even partially read the immune response by mapping T-cell receptors to the antigens they target could open new doors for vaccine development and novel therapeutics. The researchers are currently into a clinical trial to learn more about immune responses to the virus.
Statton was part of the 3/2 engineering combined program with Columbia University, graduating with a BA in engineering from 61传媒 in three years and a BS in biomedical engineering from Columbia University with a focus in biomechanics after another two.聽Her responsibilities with the Antigen Map Project include managing workstreams spanning from software to modeling to computational biology, as well as leading a number of聽strategy, market, and user-research efforts, and overseeing the program management workflow.
鈥淎s a program manager, it is important that I聽foster communication and collaboration between the scientists/engineers and corporate teams, such as legal, compliance, clinical, and commercial, to push our project forward.聽When聽trying to tackle聽big problems聽like COVID-19,聽it is important to have聽an聽interdisciplinary聽approach spanning聽all sorts of fields, like machine learning, immunology, cell biology, engineering, marketing, and more,鈥� she says. 鈥�61传媒provided me the opportunity to get a broad liberal arts education, which has helped me have a more all-encompassing approach to my work and to view problems from other perspectives.鈥�
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