A Horizon 2020 funded initiative aiming to develop a multinational partner network able to collect, share and analyse relevant data in order to provide answers to SarsCov2 epidemiological research questions.
Start date: November 2020
Run time: 24 months
Consortium stated aims
1) To bring together European and international expertise and data to synchronize research efforts in addressing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
2) To continuously monitor, identify, and facilitate the access and use of COVID-19-related RWD to fully exploit the strength of the data being accumulated routinely as a reflection on common medical practices.
3) To identify data gaps, and underrepresented populations and proactively seek synergies with complementary existing and planned clinical databases related to COVID-19.
4) To provide a platform for the use of dissimilar data sources capable of streamlining ethical and legal aspects, and anticipating the needs for data harmonization by innovative computational resources and integrated information for enhanced impact.
5) To bring together expertise on the use of advanced computational, epidemiological and biostatistical methods to handle heterogeneous, and multi-layered information in order to facilitate rapid queries and robust findings related to SARS-CoV-2 infection, underlying drivers of COVID-19 prognosis, the safety and effectiveness of treatments, and sequelae, as well as the impact of COVID-19 in health system resources.
6) To broadcast the use and results of the platform to attract new partners and to pursue complementarity with existing similar networks in Europe and internationally to save lives and optimize resources.
Results
A network consisting of 29 partners from 25 institutions in the European Union (EU) and 4 non-EU partners representing 18 countries is currently functional allowing data sharing and joint research while observing relevant local legal and ethical restraints.
Local contribution
Clinical, biological and management data from 200 SarsCov2 infection patients (around 20,000 data points) is currently shared with the partner network under a double layer of anonymisation techniques running on a dedicated server using the infrastructure developed within the unCoVer project.
Local team
Team Leader
Prof. Antigona Carmen Trofor, M.D., Ph.D.
Researchers
Radu Crișan-Dabija, M.D., Ph.D.
Cristina Grigorescu, M.D., Ph.D.
Andrei Cernomaz, M.D., Ph.D.
Administrative assistant
Elena Iftimi
Publications
Peñalvo JL, Mertens E, Ademović E on behalf of the unCoVer network, et al
Unravelling data for rapid evidence-based response to COVID-19: a summary of the unCoVer protocol
BMJ Open 2021;11:e055630.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-055630