Launched in March 2021, COVID-CNS is a collaboration between experts in neuroscience and psychiatry based at the University of Liverpool and King’s College London, under the umbrella of the NIHR BioResource. COVID-19 patients frequently suffer brain problems during the infection and can be left with symptoms of brain injury. The study is looking to understand how these problems occur and develop strategies to prevent and treat them.
The project currently involves more than a dozen research centres and is being led by the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections at the University of Liverpool in collaboration with King’s College London.
COVID-CNS is recruiting participants who have had COVID-19 and a neurological or psychiatric complication to which COVID-19 may have contributed. You can read more about the criteria for inclusion in the study via the patient page on the study website.
This project is also supported by and is an integral part of the NIHR BioResource which provides the governance and research framework, as well as the infrastructure for sample processing to speed up clinical research and clinical trials. Patients recruited to COVID-CNS are consented to the NIHR BioResource and will be re-contactable to participate in further research, following standard protocols for being a BioResource volunteer.
Exciting developments in the first 12 months include a substantial amendment being approved in August 2021 by the Research Ethics Committee (REC) to allow for paediatric recruitment (15 and below) to the study, which is scheduled to begin in the coming months at a handful of new sites.
In December last year, the study also received a no-cost extension from funders which means this vital work can continue until at least October 2022.
We are very grateful to all volunteers who have given up their time to participate and attend their local hospital for a study visit. Without volunteer contributions, COVID-CNS and the NIHR BioResource does not function.
Anyone can join the NIHR BioResource, whether living with a health condition or not. It is important we have diverse representation from across the country in our national panel of volunteers so that we can continue to support vital health research studies that benefit everyone.
For more information on COVID-CNS, please visit the study website. If you are a researcher interested in using the BioResource to support your work, please visit our information page.
