Immunity at natural barriers: Mucosa and placenta
We seek to understand how SARS-CoV-2 overcomes natural barriers to enter the host, particularly concentrating on the mechanisms involved in the upper and lower respiratory tract (A) and at the feto-maternal interface (B). For this, we will employ a mouse models of infection, particularly concentrating in mechanisms taking place at the upper and lower respiratory track and in the placenta. We seek to build on immunological knowledge gained for pandemic viruses such as FLUAV and ZIKV and identify unique versus similar patterns in the early immune response induced by these viruses and SARS-CoV-2 at natural barriers.
