The purpose of this first Focus Funding COVID-19 call is to address urgent, unresolved questions on immune response, host susceptibility and the infection mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2. Projects must be hypothesis driven and evidence based. It must also be clear from the proposal how the newly acquired knowledge will contribute to a better understanding of the infection process and the concrete management of the current crisis. Projects must be submitted by 7 September 2020.

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List of funded Projects:

Subject Area	Project in GEPRIS
Immunology Clinical Infectiology and Tropical Medicine	Dissecting the SARS-CoV2-specific immune response by epitope and single cell mapping in differentially affected individuals
Virology Cell Biology	SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein-Priming Cysteine Cathepsin L Acting at Microvilli of Intestine Epithelial Cells
Virology Immunology	Course of SARS coronavirus-2-specific antibody titers and magnitude of the memory B-cell and T-cell response
Biophysics Bioinformatics and Theoretical Biology Virology	meCocan - Towards a mechanistic understanding of the interaction of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein and host heparan sulphate proteoglycans
Immunology Virology	Defining the cytotoxic T cell response in COVID-19 patients
Experimental Models for the Understanding of Nervous System Diseases Virology	Infection, transport and degeneration of human neurons caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Virology Biochemistry Gastroenterology Cell Biology	Infection of intestinal cells by SARS-CoV2 and its effects on intestinal function
Virology Bioinformatics and Theoretical Biology Immunology	Identification of the molecular origins of comorbidity in COVID-19 patients
Virology	Deciphering the impact of Sars-CoV-2 envelope protein glycosylation on human pathogenicity
Immunology Virology	Investigation of the cell-intrinsic immune response and the antiviral efficacy of interferons against SARS-CoV2
Immunology	Long-term humoral immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 in healthy individuals and patients with primary immunodeficienciess
Molecular and Cellular Neurology and Neuropathology Clinical Neurology; Neurosurgery and Neuroradiology	Immune-mediated pathogenesis and development of autoimmunity in neurological manifestations of COVID-19
Virology	The role of TRIM-family proteins and other host cell factors in the restriction of SARS-CoV-2
Nephrology Immunology	Pre-existing Cross-reactive Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Cellular Immunity in Hemodialysis and Kidney Transplanted Patients - Implications for COVID-19 Disease Prognosis
Immunology Virology	The innate immune antagonism of SARS-CoV-2 ORF3a, ORF6 and ORF7a
Virology	Evolutionary risk assessment of European SARS-related bat coronaviruses
Virology Immunology	Mechanisms of protection from SARS-CoV-2 by neutralizing and non-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies in a small animal model
Virology	Role of TMPRSS2 in SARS-CoV-2 induced expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines
Virology	Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 by antibodies to the proteolytic cleavage sites of the spike protein
Structural Biology Biochemistry	Biochemical and structural characterization of the SARS-CoV-2 non-structural protein 16 (Nsp16), a cap ribose 2’O-methyltransferase
Immunology	The role of adaptive NK cells in the control of SARS-CoV-2 infection
Cell Biology Immunology	Crosstalk between nonstructural proteins of SARS-CoV-2 and the autophagy signaling machinery
Virology	SARS-COV-2-mediated liver injury
Physiology Virology	SARS-CoV-2 induced damage of the alveolar epithelium in the lung and its inhibition by α1-antitrypsin
Pneumology, Thoracic Surgery Physiology Virology	Impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the barrier function of the airway epithelium
Biophysics Virology	Viral tools and monosynaptic tracers for studying SARS-CoV2 neurotropism and neuronal transmission
Immunology Anaesthesiology	The role of ketogenesis in the immune response towards SARS-CoV-2
Immunology Clinical Infectiology and Tropical Medicine	Deciphering SARS-CoV-2 mediated inflammasome activation in COVID-19 patient-derived myeloid cells
Molecular and Cellular Neurology and Neuropathology Pathology	Targeting the neurovascular niche in COVID-19
Virology	Identification and validation of key host cellular factors directing SARS-CoV-2 assembly and consequences for neuronal proteostasis
Virology Endocrinology, Diabetology, Metabolism	Endocrine in vitro models to study pathophysiology and diabetes in SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19
Clinical Immunology and Allergology	Understanding Neutrophil Extracellular Trap (NET) formation in COVID-19