1) University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute

Abstract: The pandemic prompted by the novel SARS-COV-2 virus continues to have a devastating impact on the healthof communities, clinically, socially and economically. Preventive approaches require an understanding of thevirus prevalence and herd immunity in the general population. To evaluate the sero-prevalence of immunityagainst SARS-COV-2 in the United States, this scientific partnership of academic medical centers and theNIH's intramural research program will examine the population prevalences of detectable antibodies to SARS-COV-2 from a convenience sampling of adults in the U.S. who have not been diagnosed with COVID-19 (Aim1) and will determine the immune attributes associated with health outcomes (Aim 2), including for those inunderrepresented populations and across the life course. From a cohort of >400,000 self-referred,asymptomatic adults nationwide, a near-representative subset will be selected based on demographics suchas age, race/ethnicity, and geography to provide blood samples for characterization of antibodies and otherimmunologic markers to inform the development of screening and neutralization assays. This work benefitsfrom the deep expertise in the basic and applied research of infectious diseases as well as viral vaccinedevelopment, host immune response to viruses, and viral molecular biology and genetics at the NationalInstitute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). It also leverages the rigorous and efficient capacitymaintained by Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Hubs to rapidly engage diverse cohorts ofparticipants nationally to accelerate translational research that is high priority scientifically and for eventualpublic health practice. From this study, the collaborative team will gain crucial insights into the magnitude of theCOVID-19 pandemic across the country and will identify potential targets for a vaccine. These data areessential to assess the impact of public health efforts and to guide ongoing COVID-19 response.