Participant Contact Information |
Please read about the study and complete the survey below.
Thank you!
Project Title: MU Study of Sero-positivity & Risk for SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19
IRB Number: 2028427 MU
Principal Investigators: Enid Schatz, Adam Schrum, Ram Raghavan
Funding Source:Siemens Healthineers/University of Missouri
Welcome!
As you are well aware, SARS-CoV2 is the pandemic virus that causes Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19). As educational facilities re-open to begin Fall semester of the new academic year, there is much concern for how campuses all over America may see increases in student exposure to the virus, despite best efforts to invoke infection-preventative measures. It is thought that immunity to the virus may be possible when a “good” immune response occurs in an infected individual, and therefore vaccine research is well underway. But “bad” immune responses are thought to play an exacerbating role in many of the most severe cases, and there is much that is incompletely understood about the immune pathway to recovery in COVID-19. The best current thinking is that hyperactivity from so-called innate-immune cells and their products might exacerbate pathology, while adaptive immune responses led by B cell antibodies and T cells might eradicate the virus and promote recovery. We have the unique opportunity to understand this problem at the University of Missouri and potentially offer actionable public health and campus community information to combat this pandemic.
We invite you to take part in this study, because you have been randomly selected as a member of the MU community. This form tells you more about the study and what will happen if you participate in it.
Study Objectives
As a first objective, we are going to study the risk perceptions and behavior of University of Missouri students, faculty, and staff towards COVID-19. Information garnered from a survey will provide the institution with a sense of how well students are adhering to University prescribed nonpharmaceutical interventions—public health measures implemented to reduce spread at a time when pharmaceutical options, including both vaccines and treatment, are limited. These include things like wearing face coverings, social isolation and quarantine, conducting coursework online, and social distancing. While many of these interventions have shown to be effective in reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the impacts of these changes on “normal life” have been extreme. And, as a result mental health is an important factor to consider both as an outcome too, and as a potential reason for balancing reducing potential harm of spreading disease with the social and developmental needs of adults.
As a second, equal, objective, we are going to obtain blood samples from MU students, faculty, and staff in order to (1) perform a serological surveillance study to estimate the percent of students that express antibodies that bind SARS-COV2, and (2) create a biobank of blood plasma and white blood cells from the same blood samples that will serve as a rich resource for future studies aimed at understanding B-, T-, and innate-cell immune responses against SARS-COV2. This study and the resources it will produce could contribute to experiments that will enlighten possible pharmacologic and/or therapeutic targets that could translate to medicines and vaccines against SARS-COV2.
The project will request participation from a different set of students, faculty, and staff every 2 weeks. You, and other participants, are being asked to complete a survey and have one blood drawn for antibody analysis. The sero-positivity rate will be used to monitor changes in campus activity.
Data Safety and Security
In each consent form—for the survey and blood draw—we will go over how we will keep your personal information safe and secure. We will give your records a code number and they will not contain your name or other personal information that could identify you. The code number that connects your name to your information will be kept in a separate, secure location. Information that could identify you will be removed from your research information so no one will know that it belongs to you.
If we publish the results of this study or present them at scientific meetings, we will NOT use your name or other personal information. We will do our best to make sure that your personal information from this study is kept private, but we cannot guarantee total privacy. Information that may identify you may not be given to anyone who is not working on this study without your written consent, or if required by law.
Next Steps
1) As a self-selected prospective participant, please enter your information below, in order to begin the study registration process (please check your email shortly afterwards for the official study invitation and registration form).
2) After registering for the study, each participant is then sent a unique URL for the risk perceptions and behaviors survey, as well as the option to schedule a blood draw. (You are not eligible to donate blood if you are pregnant.)
3) At the end of the survey, eligible participants who have not already signed up for a blood draw will again be asked to register for a time to go to campus for their blood draw.
4) If participants register for their blood draw, they will be registered for a time, have access to the blood draw consent to review, and be given directions for where to go/what to do/what to bring for blood draw.
5) By participating, you are eligible for prize draws!