Poster Presentation 44th Lorne Genome Conference 2023

Evaluating the direct and indirect effects of SARS-CoV-2 on multiple organ systems using stem cell-derived human tissue (#159)

Michael See 1 2 , Rajeev Rudraraju 2 3 , Matthew J Gartner 3 , Jessica A Neil 3 , Elizabeth S Stout 1 , Joseph Chen 4 5 6 , Elise J Needham 7 , Charley Mackenzie-Kludas 1 7 , Leo Yi Yang Lee 3 , Min Yang Wang 3 , Hayley Pointer 1 , Kathy Karavendzas 1 , Dad Aby-Bonsrah 3 , Damien Drew 8 , Yu Bo Yang Sun 4 5 6 , Jia Ping Tan 4 5 6 , Guizhi Sun 4 5 6 , Abbas Salvaty 6 9 , Natalie Charitakis 1 10 , Hieu T Nim 1 6 10 , Peter D Currie 6 9 , Wai-Hong Tham 8 11 , Enzo Porello 1 12 , Sean J Humphrey 7 , Mirana Ramialison 1 6 10 13 , David A Elliot 1 6 , Kanta Subbarao 3 14
  1. Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, VIC, Australia
  2. Monash Bioinformatics Platform, Clayton, VIC, Australia
  3. The Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne , VIC, Australia
  4. Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia
  5. Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Development and Stem Cells Program, Clayton, VIC, Australia
  6. Australian Regenerative Medicine Institue, Clayton, VIC, Australia
  7. Faculty of Science, Charles Perkins Centre and School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  8. The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research , Infection and Immunity Division, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  9. EMBL Australia, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia
  10. The Royal Children's Hospital, University of Melbourne, The Department of Pediatrics, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  11. Department of Medical Biology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  12. Centre for Cardiovascular Genomics and Regenerative Medicine, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  13. Department of Medical Biology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  14. The WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

SARS-CoV-2 primarily infects the respiratory tract, but cardiovascular, renal, digestive, and neurological complications are also reported in severe COVID-19. To investigate the molecular mechanisms of infection in these organs, we conducted a series of comparative analysis of transcriptional changes following infection in human stem cell derived lung, and heart tissues. We observed variable levels of infection efficacy and in particular, lung and heart tissues showed differential interferon signalling in response to infection. Our identification of these responses reveals a need for parallel evaluation in drug therapy to appropriately evaluate and identify drug targets and candidates.