Hsieh is finding out the connection between particular mind cells and the virus that causes COVID-19,
FEBRUARY 9, 2021 — UTSA scientists have found it is perhaps doable for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to enter the human mind. The analysis was led by Jenny Hsieh, professor of biology, director of the UTSA Mind Well being Consortium and the Semmes Basis Chair in Cell Biology, in collaboration with Ricardo Carrion’s lab on the Texas Biomedical Analysis Institute.
A symptom of COVID-19 is the lack of style and odor, which contributed to Hsieh investigating if the coronavirus may instantly infect the mind. Some sufferers with COVID-19 develop severe neurological issues, together with nerve harm. Hsieh together with Courtney McMahon, a UTSA Ph.D. candidate in cell and molecular biology, created a novel laboratory mannequin referred to as mind organoids with several types of mind cells contaminated with small quantities of SARS-CoV-2. They discovered that the mind’s glial cells have been inclined to COVID-19 an infection. Till UTSA’s discovery, there hadn’t been a lot scientific reporting on the glial cell and SARS-CoV-2 connection.
“Glial cells are extraordinarily vital help cells within the mind and we’re simply now starting to know their function in an infection and illness,” Hsieh mentioned. “They modulate communication between nerve cells, type a barrier, and defend the mind from an infection and chemical substances that may hurt nerve cells.”
Due to the findings, Hsieh helps putting pregnant moms among the many highest precedence for COVID-19 vaccinations.
Hsieh’s analysis additionally means that SARS-CoV-2 may very well be a menace to unborn kids. Mom and fetus share the identical circulatory system for a time period within the womb. Throughout this time, Hsieh believes the virus may very well be transmitted from an contaminated mom to the growing fetal mind by way of an entry protein discovered on glial cells referred to as ACE2.
“The organoids we modeled resemble a child’s mind throughout its second or third trimester of growth,” mentioned Hsieh. “It’s too early to inform what issues infants born with SARS-CoV-2 can develop, however we do must hold an in depth eye on infants born from contaminated moms.”
Due to the findings, Hsieh helps putting pregnant moms among the many highest precedence for COVID-19 vaccinations.
These groundbreaking research are a results of UTSA’s imaginative and prescient to develop into a nationally acknowledged research-intensive establishment. An vital step in reaching this purpose was hiring Hsieh to guide the college’s Mind Well being Consortium. Hsieh is working to advance pluripotent stem cell analysis and customized medication to develop new and revolutionary approaches to neurodegenerative illness.
“None of this analysis could be doable with out the daring imaginative and prescient of UTSA’s management to ascertain our revolutionary human stem cell core facility on campus,” mentioned Hsieh. “This takes benefit of our funding on this space together with the Mind Well being Consortium and different associated areas on the college.”
Hsieh’s findings have been submitted in two stories. “Novel targets of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in human fetal mind growth counsel early being pregnant vulnerability” was revealed in Frontiers in Neuroscience in January 2021. A second examine, “SARS-CoV-2 targets glial cells in human cortical organoids,” is at press in Stem Cell Stories.
Subsequent, Hsieh and her staff will examine the long-term results of COVID-19 mind an infection. One examine is to copy the examine in humanized mice to see if glial cell an infection reveals up in an animal mannequin. As well as, analysis is deliberate to know long-term affect of COVID-19 within the mind by taking a look at nerve cell operate.
Analysis for each papers by Hsieh was supported partly by the Robert J. Kleberg Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Basis. The muse additionally supplied funds to assist set up UTSA’s human stem cell core facility.
