Make standardized and validated animal models available that recapitulate the range of severe acute disease associated with human coronavirus infection, such as severe lung disease, coagulopathies, neurologic disease, and long COVID/PASC.
The CEPI Preclinical Model Network is working to refine models for coronavirus research that can closely mimic human disease.
The NIAID SAVE Program is working to develop and refine animal models and associated immunological assays for coronavirus research.
Novel transgenic mouse models have been developed to better recapitulate the range of severe acute disease seen in human COVID-19 by targeting tissue-specific pathways. Models like Rosa26hACE2 (Cre-mediated recombination allowing tissue-specific hACE2 expression, commercially available) and cell-specific hACE2 transgenic mice enable the study of SARS-CoV-2-induced severe lung disease by inducing targeted viral entry into alveolar type II cells and other lung epithelia, mimicking pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. These models also allow for the examination of neuroinvasion by measuring viral replication and associated brain pathology.