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The Yale Listen Study Town Hall: November 2022

February 27, 2024
  • 00:04Hi everybody.
  • 00:05Welcome to the Listen Town Hall.
  • 00:09Actually, I'm on a train right now,
  • 00:10so let me just tell you,
  • 00:12this is under unique circumstances,
  • 00:14but everyone else is in secure
  • 00:16locations where they'll be able
  • 00:18to help in case I I bump off.
  • 00:20But one, we wanted to really
  • 00:23highlight how special this is.
  • 00:26We're so thrilled to be able to
  • 00:27have a meeting with people who
  • 00:29are participating in the study.
  • 00:30We're so appreciative of everyone's
  • 00:32time and effort and the ways that
  • 00:35they've been able to contribute
  • 00:37the messages that they sent us,
  • 00:39the information that's being provided.
  • 00:41And we we can only do this through
  • 00:46the approach that we're taking,
  • 00:47which is that each of you is
  • 00:48actually a member of the team.
  • 00:49And we feel like we're just beginning this.
  • 00:50I mean we're we're just in a point
  • 00:52where we're able to invite people
  • 00:54and and in and to start talking
  • 00:55about the plans that we have.
  • 00:57We've just reached 1000 people.
  • 00:59The group includes people reporting on COVID,
  • 01:02people reporting vaccine
  • 01:03and people reporting both.
  • 01:06Let me just say we're just
  • 01:07starting to reach enough people
  • 01:08to start producing insights from
  • 01:10the surveys and medical records.
  • 01:11We encourage all the listen participants
  • 01:13to complete all the surveys.
  • 01:15The more information that people complete,
  • 01:17the more that we can use it together
  • 01:20and to connect all the records without,
  • 01:22without all those connections
  • 01:23and without the surveys that
  • 01:25we really don't have anything.
  • 01:27So we've got to be able to pull together
  • 01:29as much information together as we can.
  • 01:31And we also appreciate if you can
  • 01:33spread the word we're interested in,
  • 01:35in.
  • 01:35People with long COVID with vaccine
  • 01:37injury also have neither,
  • 01:38because ultimately we're going to
  • 01:40need a controlled population,
  • 01:41people who are not suffering from either.
  • 01:43These things that we can compare
  • 01:45to those who are to try to make
  • 01:48useful scientific inferences and
  • 01:49we're also working hard not just
  • 01:51about describing this condition,
  • 01:52but seeing whether or not we can
  • 01:54test strategies that can help.
  • 01:56And we hope that within a couple
  • 01:57weeks we'll be able to announce the
  • 01:59first clinical trial that we're going
  • 02:01to be trying and we look forward
  • 02:03to communicating you about that and
  • 02:04and getting you in line and ready
  • 02:06to dissipate and to be able to work
  • 02:08with all of you in a way that that
  • 02:10enables people to be part of it.
  • 02:12But but I think the most important
  • 02:14thing that we want to communicate is
  • 02:16is gratitude and and thanks for being
  • 02:18part of this and and in the course of this,
  • 02:22we also recognize that you guys
  • 02:24have joined a leap of faith.
  • 02:25You've provided many of you've already
  • 02:27provided information you've you've
  • 02:29given us information that we hope
  • 02:32to be able to turn into knowledge.
  • 02:33We want to work with you to
  • 02:35hear your questions,
  • 02:36for you to hear what our plans
  • 02:37are for us to work together
  • 02:39as partners and to be able to
  • 02:40make progress together.
  • 02:41So we know that this has in some
  • 02:43ways been frustrating in the
  • 02:44sense that it's been started,
  • 02:46but we haven't had any real
  • 02:48meaningful findings yet.
  • 02:48But we're we're just getting on our way.
  • 02:50So I'm not going to tell
  • 02:52anyone that patience with us,
  • 02:53you should always be impatient with us,
  • 02:55but we want to work with you as close
  • 02:57as we can to help make progress.
  • 02:58With that, let me turn and I
  • 03:00apologize for being on the train
  • 03:02actually that was unanticipated.
  • 03:03So thank you for sticking with me on that.
  • 03:05And let me hand it over to
  • 03:07Akiko for some marks from her.
  • 03:10Yeah, thank you, Harlan.
  • 03:11Just to say, everyone,
  • 03:12I'm Harlan Krumholtz.
  • 03:13I didn't even say I'm Harlan
  • 03:14Krumholtz and let me introduce
  • 03:15the key code. It was time.
  • 03:18Thank you, Harlan,
  • 03:18and thank you for your dedication
  • 03:20and joining us from A Train.
  • 03:22Really appreciate it.
  • 03:23And thank you to all of you
  • 03:25from Listen for joining us.
  • 03:27Delighted to be with you again.
  • 03:30I've really enjoyed interrupting
  • 03:31with you so far with the the last
  • 03:34town hall meeting and Born Alley and
  • 03:36I did a follow up because we had
  • 03:39so many questions that we couldn't
  • 03:40answer and during the meeting.
  • 03:42So there is a video up on the Kindred
  • 03:46site that if you're interested.
  • 03:48Hopefully we addressed all the questions,
  • 03:51but there may be others that we're,
  • 03:53you know, you're welcome to submit
  • 03:56to on the chat or question today.
  • 03:59And we'll leave plenty of time
  • 04:01at the at the last half of this
  • 04:04meeting to have Q&A sessions.
  • 04:06So please do ask us questions.
  • 04:09So yeah, just like what Harlan said,
  • 04:12we're very,
  • 04:12very excited to be able to
  • 04:14work with all of you.
  • 04:16And as I sort of presented last two times,
  • 04:20I guess there are,
  • 04:21there's a lot of work going on some of
  • 04:24the work that I shared with you from
  • 04:26the Mount Sinai Yale long COVID research.
  • 04:29But also we're going to be expanding
  • 04:32and extending those kinds of
  • 04:33research to with the Yale lesson
  • 04:36study to not only long COVID but
  • 04:40for vaccine adverse events and
  • 04:42people who had a combination of
  • 04:44long COVID and vaccine adverse events.
  • 04:47And one of the emphasis that I
  • 04:50made last time was the remarkable
  • 04:52similarities in the types of symptoms
  • 04:55that people are experiencing as
  • 04:57a result of those three different
  • 05:00conditions as well as the pre-existing
  • 05:03conditions and pre-existing symptoms
  • 05:05that people have had in this three cohort.
  • 05:08One of the things that we
  • 05:10would love to do is to.
  • 05:12So that was borne Alley's analysis.
  • 05:14By the way,
  • 05:14one of the things that that we
  • 05:17are really excited to do is to be
  • 05:19able to include control groups.
  • 05:21So right now we have great
  • 05:23participation from people with
  • 05:25these three different conditions.
  • 05:27But we do need people who are if
  • 05:30we don't have these conditions
  • 05:31in order to compare and contrast
  • 05:34the types of symptoms that people
  • 05:35are experiencing or pre-existing
  • 05:38conditions that people may have and
  • 05:40ultimately to compare the immune profiles.
  • 05:43So we encourage people to participate
  • 05:46even if you especially you know if
  • 05:49you don't have these types of conditions,
  • 05:51but are you interested in
  • 05:53contributing to research,
  • 05:54This is a very important thing to do.
  • 05:56The other thing that we would
  • 05:58love to do in Listen is to be
  • 06:01able to collect symptom data,
  • 06:02your own people with these
  • 06:04three different conditions.
  • 06:05So you know,
  • 06:07I know that the Kindred Listen
  • 06:10team has already distributed the
  • 06:13questionnaire for the symptoms,
  • 06:15but we'd love to be able to
  • 06:17get into that data as well.
  • 06:19And ultimately we will be asking
  • 06:21some of you to join bio biological
  • 06:25research analysis looking at immune
  • 06:28phenotyping by collection saliva and and
  • 06:33we will compare that to
  • 06:35the different symptoms.
  • 06:36So just to kind of recap what
  • 06:39what we discussed last time,
  • 06:41last two times, essentially we are
  • 06:44finding immunological features that
  • 06:46are clearly associated with long COVID
  • 06:49such as increased in exhausted T cells,
  • 06:52increase in activated B cells,
  • 06:55reduction in circulating central memory T
  • 06:59cells as well as reduced levels of cortisol.
  • 07:03And that is the most uniformly and
  • 07:06strongly correlated differences
  • 07:08that we see in the long COVID.
  • 07:10And then I also touched on the sex
  • 07:13differences in symptoms and immune responses.
  • 07:16That's a paper that we are currently
  • 07:20working on to to try to understand what
  • 07:23symptoms are different differentially
  • 07:25felt experienced by people of different
  • 07:29sexes as well as immune phenotype that
  • 07:33are associated with those symptoms.
  • 07:35So those are the some of
  • 07:37the ongoing research,
  • 07:39Some things that I that that we
  • 07:41are starting to do, but it's very,
  • 07:44very new are the micro clot
  • 07:47analysis and platelet activation,
  • 07:49phenotyping analysis.
  • 07:51This is in collaboration with
  • 07:54Professor Rizzo Pretorius who kindly
  • 07:56came and visited us at Yale to
  • 07:59show us how to do these analysis.
  • 08:02And even though we only collected
  • 08:05a few samples to do the analysis,
  • 08:07we are seeing significant activation of
  • 08:11platelets from people with long COVID.
  • 08:14We haven't looked into the vaccine
  • 08:18adverse event samples yet,
  • 08:20but these are the some,
  • 08:22some of the the new types of
  • 08:24analysis that we'll be doing.
  • 08:25And I know that the Professor Pretorius's
  • 08:29group has reported significantly elevated
  • 08:32activation of platelets and Michael
  • 08:35microclots in people with long COVID.
  • 08:38So that's something that we'd love to
  • 08:41be including in the future analysis.
  • 08:43So yeah,
  • 08:44these are some of the current and
  • 08:46new thinking that we we have and
  • 08:49are planning to do with you all
  • 08:51in the listen study.
  • 08:53And we'd love for you to
  • 08:54be able to participate,
  • 08:55you know if you can and if you're willing
  • 08:58for the biological analysis as well.
  • 09:01And we'd love to be able to share
  • 09:04with you some of the findings
  • 09:06from these types of analysis.
  • 09:08And of course,
  • 09:09as with all research,
  • 09:10we need to be able to do the analysis
  • 09:12in a sufficient number first to be able
  • 09:15to compare on these immune features.
  • 09:17But once we have enough number
  • 09:20and once we have confidence,
  • 09:22we will be sharing those data back with
  • 09:25you and we'll be thinking about it together.
  • 09:28So that's very,
  • 09:30very exciting for us.
  • 09:32Yeah.
  • 09:32So and I'd be happy to answer any
  • 09:35questions that you might have in
  • 09:37the last half of this program.
  • 09:39But I'm going to turn it over to
  • 09:41Barnalli to talk about what other
  • 09:43measurements we're doing for
  • 09:44the immune phenotyping.
  • 09:47Thank you, Akiko. So I'll
  • 09:48start by sharing my slides.
  • 09:58I hope everybody is able to see it.
  • 10:05So, so we have been receiving a lot
  • 10:08of questions about you know what
  • 10:10kind of surveys you are taking or
  • 10:12also about biospecimen collection.
  • 10:14So I just wanted to begin with the
  • 10:16study design. So for everybody,
  • 10:18this is important to know that this
  • 10:20study is divided into two parts.
  • 10:22The first part of the study is
  • 10:24analysis of the surveys that you take,
  • 10:27the Kindred surveys that you have been
  • 10:29taking and also the medical records,
  • 10:31which makes it very important that
  • 10:33you also connect your medical
  • 10:35records so that we can analyze your
  • 10:37data in an unbiased manner to get
  • 10:39correct results from our analysis.
  • 10:41So this is the first part of the study,
  • 10:43this part of the study,
  • 10:45every participant from any part of the
  • 10:47world can join this study and take the
  • 10:50surveys and participate in the listen study.
  • 10:53So this is the first part of the study.
  • 10:55Based on the analysis of the surveys as
  • 10:57well as going through your medical records,
  • 10:59which we cross checked many a times,
  • 11:02we will select initially select subgroups
  • 11:05of participants for biospecimen collection,
  • 11:08those who donate blood and saliva
  • 11:09to us on the very same day.
  • 11:11They are also asked to take a few
  • 11:13more surveys which helps us find
  • 11:16out their current symptoms.
  • 11:17And we also go through their medical
  • 11:19records to see if they have taken
  • 11:21any tests so that we can correlate
  • 11:22the surveys with them.
  • 11:24So this is the basic study designed.
  • 11:25The biospecimen collection portion is
  • 11:28only including residents from mainland US
  • 11:32right now with the funding that we have.
  • 11:35And so this is how we have
  • 11:37designed the study.
  • 11:38So with this,
  • 11:39I would next talk about immunophenotyping
  • 11:41and to begin with the very beginning,
  • 11:43some basic descriptions.
  • 11:44I know many of you know a lot more
  • 11:47than what I have in the slide,
  • 11:49but I just wanted to begin
  • 11:50with the very basics, sorry.
  • 11:53So our immune system.
  • 11:55When we talk about immunophenotyping,
  • 11:57we're talking about interaction with
  • 11:58the pathogen and the aftermath of it.
  • 12:01So our immune system protects us
  • 12:03from harmful substances and foreign
  • 12:05microorganisms, including viruses,
  • 12:07and comprise of different cell types.
  • 12:09Monocytes mature to form macrophages,
  • 12:12which can engulf and digest debris
  • 12:15and invading microorganisms.
  • 12:16Neutrophils are another kind of
  • 12:18engulfing or phagocytic cells.
  • 12:20Yesinophils can act on parasites.
  • 12:24Other than that we have the
  • 12:26dendritic cells or DCS,
  • 12:27which engulf microorganisms and
  • 12:29present their protein fragments on
  • 12:31their surface to activate T cells.
  • 12:33And when we talk about T cells and B cells,
  • 12:36the different subtypes that have
  • 12:38been spoken about and written
  • 12:40about in our publication as well.
  • 12:43These T cells and B cells circulate
  • 12:46within the body and when they encounter
  • 12:48foreign bodies or microorganisms,
  • 12:51T cells develop into activated T cells
  • 12:53which are people spoke about with many
  • 12:56different functions involved in protection.
  • 12:58T cells are of two types,
  • 12:59namely CD4 and CD8 protein bearing types.
  • 13:03B cells upon activation differentiate
  • 13:05to produce antibodies or are
  • 13:08called antibody secreting cells as
  • 13:10well as they generate memory B cells.
  • 13:13Our data has also touched upon double
  • 13:16negative B cells which have been associated
  • 13:19with inflammation and autoimmune diseases.
  • 13:22And then we have the messengers or cytokines.
  • 13:26Cytokines are small proteins that
  • 13:28cells used to communicate with
  • 13:30each other inside of our body.
  • 13:32They quickly transmit messages to
  • 13:34different parts of our body helping
  • 13:36to moderate the behavior of different
  • 13:39tissues and systems like the immune
  • 13:41system and the nervous system.
  • 13:43The cytokines may be mentioned here
  • 13:44or in any of the reports that we
  • 13:47will provide to you as Interferon
  • 13:49Gamma TNF Alpha Illinois 6.
  • 13:51These are just examples,
  • 13:52one or two examples of that.
  • 13:54Now moving further to study design,
  • 13:57what I wanted to show you is
  • 13:59what we are going to study.
  • 14:01So of course you have already
  • 14:03understood that we need your surveys.
  • 14:05We need your survey responses to
  • 14:08understand the disease better, right?
  • 14:10We need those surveys because we
  • 14:11are going to analyze the surveys.
  • 14:13We are going to look into your
  • 14:15medical records,
  • 14:16which makes it imperative that we
  • 14:18have that medical record connected to
  • 14:21the Kindred or the Listen platform.
  • 14:23Next,
  • 14:24what are the different experiments
  • 14:26that we are going to do?
  • 14:28So of course we are going to look
  • 14:30at the TCRS that we have so as to
  • 14:32understand what are the pathogens
  • 14:34against which they have been generated.
  • 14:37That's one.
  • 14:37Next there will be multiple
  • 14:39Elisas that we are going to do.
  • 14:41So what does ELISA do or what question
  • 14:43are we going to ask from here?
  • 14:45We will be looking for auto antibodies.
  • 14:47We will be looking for antibodies
  • 14:50against multiple analytes such
  • 14:51as different kinds of viruses,
  • 14:53bacteria,
  • 14:53what kind of infections you
  • 14:55have had in the past.
  • 14:56We will look at it in multiple ways,
  • 14:58which includes rapid extracellular
  • 15:01antigen profiling read as well as
  • 15:04serum epitope repertoire analysis,
  • 15:06which can tell us what pathogens
  • 15:08you have encountered in the
  • 15:10past as well as at the present.
  • 15:12And at the same time,
  • 15:13we'll also look at autoimmune antibodies.
  • 15:15Looking at viral antibodies is
  • 15:17another thing that we will do.
  • 15:19So SARS,
  • 15:20COV 2 antibodies will be looked
  • 15:22at for different parts of the S
  • 15:25protein as well as other proteins
  • 15:27and then we will also look at
  • 15:29the efficacy at neutralization
  • 15:31which these antibodies have.
  • 15:33So that's another experiment
  • 15:34that we are going to do.
  • 15:36At the same time as I have
  • 15:39spoken about the different kinds,
  • 15:41so I have spoken about the
  • 15:43different kinds of cells.
  • 15:44So we also have a technique by which
  • 15:47we will be able to look at what are
  • 15:50the different subsets of cells.
  • 15:52So how do we do it?
  • 15:53The the different cells I spoke about
  • 15:56actually these cells have different
  • 15:58kinds of proteins sitting on their surface.
  • 16:01On the basis of antibodies
  • 16:03which can recognize those,
  • 16:04we will be able to separate out
  • 16:07different types of cells and calculate
  • 16:09the numbers and give you a fraction
  • 16:11calculated number of each of these
  • 16:14cell types by doing a technique using
  • 16:16a technique called flow cytometry.
  • 16:18So other than that,
  • 16:20as Akiko has mentioned,
  • 16:21we are very much interested in
  • 16:23platelet activation and we will look
  • 16:25at microclogs and platelet activation
  • 16:27using all the assays that have been
  • 16:30designed by the different scientists
  • 16:31that she has already spoken about.
  • 16:33So this is what we are going to do.
  • 16:35And I know all of you have lots
  • 16:37and lots of questions regarding
  • 16:39how to connect our medical records
  • 16:41or which surveys have I taken,
  • 16:42why haven't I received a survey?
  • 16:44And we talk a lot about it,
  • 16:46we exchange emails about it.
  • 16:48So we thought there are two very talented
  • 16:51people who are behind all the processes.
  • 16:54They are both working for Hugo.
  • 16:55One is Tanya, who is the product
  • 16:57manager and the other person is Emma,
  • 17:00who's the data engineer at Hugo.
  • 17:02And we have both of them today to
  • 17:04demonstrate how it should be done and
  • 17:06also respond to all your questions.
  • 17:08So keep your questions ready and
  • 17:11I think I will stop sharing my
  • 17:14slides and I will hand it over to
  • 17:18Tanya so that she can walk with you
  • 17:21through the process of connection,
  • 17:23connectivity issues, everything.
  • 17:24Thank you,
  • 17:25Tanya.
  • 17:27Thank
  • 17:27you, Bernali. I'm going to go ahead
  • 17:29and share my screen. Hello, everyone.
  • 17:32All right, give me one moment.
  • 17:36Can everyone see my screen? Perfect.
  • 17:40All right, so this is nothing
  • 17:43that you're unfamiliar with,
  • 17:44but this is our Kindred platform and
  • 17:47I wanted to just highlight a couple
  • 17:49of items that may be confusing or
  • 17:51people have questions around that
  • 17:53I can definitely clear up for you.
  • 17:54So you walk into the Kindred platform
  • 17:57and the first thing that you're
  • 18:00going to see is your active tasks.
  • 18:02This is what Bernali is referring to as
  • 18:05the surveys that need to be completed
  • 18:07and how important that is for those
  • 18:10to be completed to analyze the data.
  • 18:12So I they open up right into the
  • 18:16survey into a new tab in your browser
  • 18:18or on your mobile device so that
  • 18:20you would open up them up that way.
  • 18:23And this is the structure of our surveys.
  • 18:25The most important thing is to
  • 18:29consistently complete the surveys
  • 18:30because what when you complete a survey,
  • 18:32it's then backed with another survey
  • 18:34that is all based on the questions
  • 18:36that you answered.
  • 18:37So it's very,
  • 18:38very imperative that you complete
  • 18:40the surveys or any tasks that you
  • 18:42have up in this task carousel.
  • 18:44It really helps with the research
  • 18:46and anything that we are trying to
  • 18:49gather for all the data analysis.
  • 18:51So that I wanted to definitely emphasize
  • 18:54this carousel and the accessibility of it.
  • 18:57I'm going to move further down.
  • 18:59This is our content feed.
  • 19:01So if you are in your are in the
  • 19:04listen study in the COVID community,
  • 19:06so you're going to get listen study
  • 19:08articles that are extremely helpful.
  • 19:11You can listen to any of our town halls.
  • 19:14There's also Kindred contributors
  • 19:15where they tell their,
  • 19:17you know the vaccine injured or long COVID,
  • 19:20they tell their stories.
  • 19:21It's very informational,
  • 19:23very interesting information that we post.
  • 19:25So I encourage you to read those
  • 19:27definitely as as often as you can.
  • 19:30They are updated quite often as well.
  • 19:32All right.
  • 19:33So one more item that I want you guys to
  • 19:36just take a look at within the platform,
  • 19:38which I'm not sure if you guys
  • 19:40know is accessible to you.
  • 19:41Is this My account button up
  • 19:43here in the top right corner?
  • 19:45So if you go to My account,
  • 19:48you are able to fill in your first
  • 19:50and last name when you enrolled it
  • 19:52did take the the city, state and zip.
  • 19:54If it's not in there,
  • 19:56you can you can add it in their phone number,
  • 19:59date of birth and your communication
  • 20:02preference.
  • 20:02So if you have your phone number,
  • 20:03you can choose to have your
  • 20:06communication sent SMS, e-mail or voice.
  • 20:08I wanted to let you know that whatever
  • 20:10works best for you and that you can
  • 20:13customize that within this My account page.
  • 20:16What's also nice under this menu is
  • 20:18if you have a question, if you can,
  • 20:20contact support and it will take you
  • 20:22to our frequently Asked questions
  • 20:24and it'll help you guide.
  • 20:26You through any you know problem
  • 20:28or issue that you're
  • 20:29encountering or any questions
  • 20:30that you may have and we also have
  • 20:33our privacy in terms of service.
  • 20:34So I wanted to highlight
  • 20:37the My Account feature.
  • 20:38We also of course you guys have
  • 20:40the Listen study which you can
  • 20:42click into and it is only Listen
  • 20:43study related and I'm sure that
  • 20:45you guys are quite aware of that.
  • 20:48But the biggest emphasis that I'd
  • 20:50like to make is on data connections.
  • 20:52So data connections,
  • 20:54it is super important that we have this
  • 20:57information of your medical records.
  • 21:00It is the key contributor as to
  • 21:03understanding the medical diseases,
  • 21:05any current,
  • 21:06any current events that have happened
  • 21:08since the last time that you've been seeing.
  • 21:10So I want to go ahead and go
  • 21:13through AQ and A of anything that
  • 21:15is confusing or about this process.
  • 21:18So I'm going to go ahead and jump
  • 21:20right into how to connect your records.
  • 21:22OK.
  • 21:23So what you would do is you would go
  • 21:25ahead and just click this add my data
  • 21:28connections and then it says that Kindred,
  • 21:30it uses Hugo,
  • 21:31how to safely and secure your records.
  • 21:33We connect with hundreds of providers,
  • 21:35so not only healthcare,
  • 21:36we pharmacies,
  • 21:37devices, applications,
  • 21:39you know insure insurers,
  • 21:42payers etcetera and that we only
  • 21:44share your data with your permission
  • 21:46you can manage and revoke at any
  • 21:48time and I will show you how you
  • 21:50can do that and press continue.
  • 21:52So we all we do is we have a list
  • 21:54of popular connections just to
  • 21:55give you an idea of what kind of
  • 21:58different clinical devices and
  • 21:59pharmacies that we have to offer.
  • 22:02But there's also this wonderful search field.
  • 22:04So what I'm going to do is I'm
  • 22:06going to go ahead and search
  • 22:07for a provider in my area.
  • 22:09I'm in the Bay Area,
  • 22:09so I'm going to go ahead and and
  • 22:12search Kaiser and you'll see that
  • 22:14all the Kaiser locations pull up and
  • 22:16that you can select which one you
  • 22:19know you're you are affiliated with.
  • 22:21So let's say that I'm affiliated
  • 22:22with Baldwin Park,
  • 22:24I would go ahead and press
  • 22:25the button to connect.
  • 22:27I would enter my Kaiser Permanente Baldwin
  • 22:31Park credentials into these fields.
  • 22:33You would check off this box that you
  • 22:35were authorizing the use and storage
  • 22:37of the credentials and your health,
  • 22:38health data through the Hugo Connect process.
  • 22:42I want to emphasize this as well.
  • 22:44Your credentials are securely stored and
  • 22:46encrypted in both in motion and at rest.
  • 22:48When you with using a management
  • 22:50system that is strictly controlled,
  • 22:52credentials are never shared and
  • 22:53are solely a part of your account.
  • 22:55You can change or revoke access at any time.
  • 22:58All right,
  • 22:59so I'm going to go ahead and submit
  • 23:02and there's this fun confetti
  • 23:04page that shows you that you
  • 23:06have submitted and that record.
  • 23:07You can go on to add another.
  • 23:09So let's go ahead and do so.
  • 23:11Let's go ahead and choose a pharmacy
  • 23:13this time and let's go with Walgreens.
  • 23:18Same thing. You can go ahead and connect,
  • 23:22put in your Walgreens
  • 23:24credentials and submit some.
  • 23:28Some of the pharmacies or providers or
  • 23:31healthcare systems have an external question
  • 23:33or an additional item that you need to,
  • 23:35you know, you have to redirect to a
  • 23:37different page or an additional question.
  • 23:39This one happens too with Walgreens,
  • 23:41so I'm going to go ahead
  • 23:43and submit an answer.
  • 23:44And this is all test data,
  • 23:45so this isn't anything real,
  • 23:47Just want to show you what it looks like.
  • 23:49When you are all done connecting your
  • 23:52records, you can click this button.
  • 23:54You can see what you've already connected
  • 23:57and if you click out of this box,
  • 23:59it is now showing up under My
  • 24:02Data Connections as connected.
  • 24:04Now let's say that you would like to that
  • 24:08this says it has it needs attention.
  • 24:10Maybe the password that you entered
  • 24:12wasn't correct or maybe you need
  • 24:14to re authenticate yourself.
  • 24:15You can go ahead and select this wrench
  • 24:18here and go to repair connection.
  • 24:21That will bring it this Baldwin Park
  • 24:23Medical Center right back up so that
  • 24:25you can re enter your credentials and
  • 24:27hopefully have a successful login.
  • 24:29If you'd like to revoke access at any time,
  • 24:32the same applies,
  • 24:34you would disconnect.
  • 24:37You would receive this page to
  • 24:38unlink the connection and this it
  • 24:40states that you're unlinking the
  • 24:42connection and this will prevent
  • 24:44any of your connected services from
  • 24:46accessing your data in the future
  • 24:48and you can unlink that way.
  • 24:51And so I wanted to definitely show
  • 24:52you all the different types of things
  • 24:54that you can search for any questions
  • 24:57that you may have and and go from there.
  • 25:06Anything that I didn't cover that
  • 25:07you feel needs to be covered.
  • 25:11So there's a question in the box.
  • 25:14So when it comes to adding medical records,
  • 25:17every time I connect to Facility
  • 25:19portal it will connect but
  • 25:21then connection will be lost.
  • 25:23I also keep getting sent
  • 25:25duplicates of assay survey.
  • 25:27Sorry that I have already filled
  • 25:29out and finished and I get
  • 25:31emails saying need to complete.
  • 25:33If I have already come completed,
  • 25:35do I really need to fill
  • 25:38out again if the serve?
  • 25:40If you're still receiving
  • 25:41survey emails then that means that
  • 25:43there is a survey to complete still.
  • 25:46So if you log into your Kindred platform,
  • 25:49you should see a survey up in my
  • 25:51active Tasks if you are still receiving
  • 25:53an e-mail to complete a survey.
  • 25:56So that means that it might be in
  • 25:58progress but not fully completed
  • 25:59because it will still show up in the
  • 26:02carousel until it is fully completed.
  • 26:04If it's in progress and you stop at a
  • 26:06certain point, if you press the button,
  • 26:08it will restart at the time
  • 26:10that you stopped the survey.
  • 26:13I hope that that helps.
  • 26:16Yeah. Tanya, there's another
  • 26:17question that a couple of people have
  • 26:20asked is if none of the providers
  • 26:21are linked, what is the process?
  • 26:25None of the providers are linked,
  • 26:28meaning you can't find
  • 26:30the provider under. OK.
  • 26:33So let's say you can't find the providers.
  • 26:35So let's just search here.
  • 26:37All right. So you can't find
  • 26:39what you're looking for.
  • 26:41Let us know here.
  • 26:44And this is where you can go ahead and
  • 26:46you can submit a request to us saying,
  • 26:49hey, I can't find my provider and that we
  • 26:51will do our best to go ahead and locate
  • 26:54that provider and try to get that added.
  • 26:56Does that answer that question Perfect.
  • 27:00Thank you. You're welcome.
  • 27:05So as you can see,
  • 27:06this needs attention already.
  • 27:07It updates rather quickly because
  • 27:09I was using test credentials.
  • 27:11So just to let you know why that
  • 27:13says it needs it needs attention.
  • 27:15It's just the test
  • 27:16credentials that I was using.
  • 27:17But in a in a normal situation
  • 27:19it would be connected with
  • 27:21the correct credentials. Enter
  • 27:27any further questions that I am.
  • 27:32So here is 1 from Sheila.
  • 27:34I see that I signed up back in August
  • 27:36for the survey but have received nothing.
  • 27:39Can someone help me get into the pipeline?
  • 27:43So I think Tanya there Talia has already
  • 27:47sent out an e-mail ID where you can ask
  • 27:52all of these questions and get a response.
  • 27:54Do you want to add any other suggestions?
  • 28:01I would need to have more
  • 28:02information to see what exactly
  • 28:04this person's encountering,
  • 28:05but I would be happy to assist
  • 28:07or or stay after to to figure out
  • 28:09what how that could be occurring.
  • 28:11Yes, I want to hear and know
  • 28:15about any possible, you know,
  • 28:17disconnect or any any difficulties
  • 28:19that anyone's having within the system
  • 28:21other than finding their connection
  • 28:23because there is a way to to submit
  • 28:25that and we can try to obtain that.
  • 28:27But yes, I can definitely follow up on that.
  • 28:32So I also see that somebody is asking
  • 28:35Angie here is asking how often
  • 28:36should we check the app for surveys.
  • 28:42You should be receiving emails for
  • 28:44any new surveys that are assigned.
  • 28:46So I would you know,
  • 28:47it's it's always a great thing
  • 28:49to visit the app, you know,
  • 28:51a couple of times a week or as
  • 28:52often as you'd like to see if you
  • 28:54have any active tasks.
  • 28:55But we will send e-mail correspondence
  • 28:57when there is a task that needs
  • 28:59to be completed and that would
  • 29:01show up and whatever task we would
  • 29:04send an e-mail about would would
  • 29:06be up in this task carousel here.
  • 29:08And there might even be one that
  • 29:10says connect your health records
  • 29:11And what you would do is you would,
  • 29:13you know press on this on this arrow
  • 29:15and then it would pop up this screen
  • 29:17to encourage you to to to enter
  • 29:20your medical record information.
  • 29:25Thank you, Tanya.
  • 29:26If there are any other questions,
  • 29:28please type it and I can see many
  • 29:31are being answered in real time. Now
  • 29:36Bernal, if I could just jump in
  • 29:38real quick and I wanted to explain
  • 29:41a little bit about how our
  • 29:43data collection works.
  • 29:44A lot of the connections that we support
  • 29:47are through an EMR provider called Epic.
  • 29:50You'll notice that when you go
  • 29:52to connect your credentials,
  • 29:54a new tab will actually open and you will
  • 29:57have to enter your credentials there.
  • 29:59I'm seeing a question in the chat about
  • 30:03if you have multiple Epic connections,
  • 30:05do you need to sign up with each one?
  • 30:07The answer is yes,
  • 30:09because you are consenting on a
  • 30:11sort of hospital basis to share your
  • 30:13information and not the letter or
  • 30:16the EMR basis to your information
  • 30:20like that. And I just
  • 30:21wanted to share how sort of
  • 30:23new and novel this process actually is.
  • 30:28We Well, not we, but if you guys are
  • 30:32familiar with the Cures Act which was
  • 30:34passed in 2016 that basically said that
  • 30:38your healthcare providers need to share
  • 30:41this information when you request it.
  • 30:43And things like that actually take
  • 30:47a very long time to get going.
  • 30:50And you know, and then COVID happened
  • 30:53and things kept getting pushed back and
  • 30:55pushed back and we've reached this state
  • 30:58where the deadline for full compliance
  • 31:00is actually coming up pretty soon.
  • 31:03It's the end of December 2022.
  • 31:05So a lot of these processes that
  • 31:08you guys are going through and
  • 31:10almost sort of testing out for us,
  • 31:12they're they're works in progress.
  • 31:14So if you do see anything weird,
  • 31:16you encounter a connection that
  • 31:19you think should be there,
  • 31:20that's not or you're finding that,
  • 31:23you know, you connect and you
  • 31:25keep getting needs attention,
  • 31:26needs attention,
  • 31:27needs attention.
  • 31:28We encourage you to reach out to Kindred
  • 31:31under score support at Hugo dot Health.
  • 31:34The connection related issues
  • 31:35actually tend to come straight to me,
  • 31:38so I can get you going and make
  • 31:40sure that we have everything working
  • 31:41as smoothly as possible.
  • 31:45I'm just going to check and
  • 31:47see if there's any other
  • 31:48questions that I can answer
  • 31:50while I've got the floor here.
  • 31:53Thanks so much, Emma. Yeah,
  • 31:59I just tried
  • 32:00reconnecting needs work account.
  • 32:01How long does it take for a
  • 32:03new connection to show up?
  • 32:04So that's actually a great question because
  • 32:07we get this one a lot in our support.
  • 32:09It's not instantaneous.
  • 32:10So the way it kind of works on
  • 32:13the back end is once you finish,
  • 32:15there's a message sent out to the rest of
  • 32:17our system and it basically queues up a job.
  • 32:19So it's like first in, first out type deal.
  • 32:22So if there's a whole bunch of other
  • 32:24people connecting at the same time,
  • 32:26it may take up to, you know,
  • 32:292-3 minutes for that new status to show up.
  • 32:33So give it a little bit,
  • 32:35maybe even refresh the screen
  • 32:36in a minute or two.
  • 32:38And if you're still seeing that
  • 32:39needs attention,
  • 32:39go ahead and reach out.
  • 32:41How
  • 32:47far back do
  • 32:47you want My Health records?
  • 32:49So when you first give us permission
  • 32:52to go and access your records,
  • 32:54we will pull basically everything
  • 32:57that you give us permission to
  • 32:59as far back as your electronic
  • 33:01health record actually stores.
  • 33:03And this varies based on different providers.
  • 33:06I know my personal stuff,
  • 33:07I can see as far back as I was born,
  • 33:09but I was born in 1998,
  • 33:11so some people might not have
  • 33:13that same sort of longevity
  • 33:14in terms of their records.
  • 33:19And then what if our medical
  • 33:20provider is a solo practitioner?
  • 33:22Again, if you reach out to support or
  • 33:27sorry kindred support at Hugo dot Health,
  • 33:30we can you can send us your
  • 33:32practitioners info and we can see
  • 33:34if we could get you guys connected.
  • 33:40Emma, there's a question I see
  • 33:43are there hip hop protections in
  • 33:45place when sharing medical records?
  • 33:48This is also a really good question.
  • 33:51So Hugo Health isn't what's called a
  • 33:54covered entity under HIPAA protections,
  • 33:57but we care greatly about your ability to
  • 34:01share and protect your own health data.
  • 34:04So we actually attest to and implement
  • 34:06all of the HIPAA standards on our own,
  • 34:10which you know, as someone who
  • 34:12actually uses the Kindred platform,
  • 34:13it's great because it means that there's
  • 34:16less vulnerabilities when we're transferring
  • 34:19your information to different places.
  • 34:21It means that when it's stored, there's
  • 34:24actually even more protections in place.
  • 34:27Your information is actually
  • 34:28completely de identified.
  • 34:30So if there were a breach or
  • 34:32something which not usually the case,
  • 34:34they wouldn't be able to link any
  • 34:37of that back to you whatsoever.
  • 34:38And we really do believe in a
  • 34:40test to HIPAA policies.
  • 34:42There's also something,
  • 34:43in case anyone's curious,
  • 34:45called the Karen Alliance,
  • 34:46which is an additional set of principles
  • 34:50that different healthcare providers
  • 34:52and health and information technology
  • 34:54providers can attest to that have
  • 34:57even stricter policies regarding
  • 34:58sharing of data and all sorts of
  • 35:01protections around that sort of stuff.
  • 35:08Hey, Emma, can you hear me? Yes.
  • 35:11Hi, this is Harlan. Hey Harlan,
  • 35:17People do ask us about the issue about
  • 35:20data staring in security and when they
  • 35:22say we're connecting our records,
  • 35:24what are we, what are we doing and
  • 35:25what's going to happen with them?
  • 35:26And I do think it's important to note
  • 35:29the way this works on your behalf.
  • 35:31Hugo's going, you may have just said this,
  • 35:33that I just got bunked off.
  • 35:34I'll come back and say it again.
  • 35:35You go on your behalf.
  • 35:37It's getting your data to deposit
  • 35:40into your secure cloud based
  • 35:42account and grow your data assets.
  • 35:44With your permission,
  • 35:45that data goes into the study.
  • 35:47With your permission,
  • 35:48the data can be used in aggregate for us
  • 35:50to create some summaries about what's
  • 35:51going on for the Kindred community,
  • 35:53but you will never be
  • 35:54identified individually.
  • 35:55Your data is not going to be
  • 35:57sold or moved or monetized.
  • 35:58It's about empowering you for your
  • 36:00data to come in and for you to give
  • 36:03permission for your data to be used
  • 36:05in this way if you change your mind.
  • 36:07If you decide you don't want to do this,
  • 36:09you can.
  • 36:10It's your data and Hugo, not Hugo,
  • 36:13does not own your data.
  • 36:14You own your data.
  • 36:15And we're trying to create the the,
  • 36:17the environment,
  • 36:17the ecosystem where you can put
  • 36:19your data to work.
  • 36:20But we're also going to fight like heck
  • 36:23to protect your data and protect your
  • 36:24rights and help you to get your data.
  • 36:27Again,
  • 36:27it comes in the way we conceptualize
  • 36:30and it's like we say B to C to
  • 36:32R it's like from the businesses
  • 36:34or organizations that hold your
  • 36:36data to C to the consumer to you
  • 36:38and then you're permission to go
  • 36:40use it for R for the research.
  • 36:42And then when it sits within
  • 36:45the Hugo community,
  • 36:46we're not doing any funny business
  • 36:47or have anything like hey,
  • 36:49because you're on this platform,
  • 36:50we can de identify and move it around.
  • 36:52It's yours.
  • 36:53And So what we're working on
  • 36:54is a permission based system
  • 36:58in a sense of community together and
  • 37:00trying to use the platform for the
  • 37:02purposes of trying to empower people to
  • 37:04be able to do things with their data.
  • 37:06There has to be a business model with Hugo.
  • 37:08I mean we want it to be sustainable.
  • 37:09So in the transactions and partnerships,
  • 37:11we're trying to make it so that there's
  • 37:14enough revenue generated to be able to
  • 37:16help support the platform to do this.
  • 37:18But what we won't do is compromise
  • 37:20on the idea that it's your data or do
  • 37:22anything with your data in order to
  • 37:24generate revenue that's not in the model.
  • 37:27The model is working in partnership
  • 37:29with you for things that that you
  • 37:34if you want to be part of listen,
  • 37:35that's great.
  • 37:36We want you to be part of listening.
  • 37:37That data then can be shared
  • 37:38with the listening study.
  • 37:39I wear two hats in that way.
  • 37:40I'm on I'm on the Hugo side to
  • 37:41try to help build the platform.
  • 37:43I'm working with the Kiko on the
  • 37:45listening side to try to help
  • 37:47learn something with you about
  • 37:50the conditions that you guys
  • 37:51are facing and are challenging.
  • 37:53And and our intent purpose is
  • 37:55to move as fast as we can learn
  • 37:57from you and to try to make this
  • 37:59into something meaningful for the
  • 38:01community not just our community
  • 38:02but the world community who
  • 38:04are facing the same challenges.
  • 38:05But but I wanted to just say that
  • 38:07because from time to time I see I
  • 38:09see someone raise that issue and we
  • 38:10just want to say it really clearly
  • 38:11and loudly that the data is always yours.
  • 38:14And we're trying to everything is is
  • 38:16going to be based on permissions and
  • 38:18that's just the way we'll we'll work.
  • 38:24And there was one exciting
  • 38:25piece that I wanted to show.
  • 38:26If you don't if you don't mind
  • 38:29there was one more thing that is
  • 38:30in the works that is coming very,
  • 38:32very soon and hopefully
  • 38:34you can see my screen here.
  • 38:36Give me one second. All right.
  • 38:39So with the Hugo connect feature here
  • 38:43what we're going to have coming soon
  • 38:45is the ability to upload your records.
  • 38:47So let me just move this bar real
  • 38:49quick so you're going to be able
  • 38:51these are the mock ups for it.
  • 38:53So you're going to be able
  • 38:54to have an upload feature.
  • 38:56So if you can't find your your provider
  • 38:58or if you just received something
  • 39:00from the doctor or if you have
  • 39:02notes that are you know no longer in
  • 39:03your in your file or what have you,
  • 39:05whatever you'd like to send
  • 39:07to be a part of your record,
  • 39:08we can upload that file.
  • 39:10So it would be as simple as finding
  • 39:12this within Hugo Connect and then
  • 39:15just simply uploading and then
  • 39:17adding a name to the file.
  • 39:18We're going to have some categories
  • 39:20of what type of file this is,
  • 39:21whether this is an X-ray or your
  • 39:23medical records, immunization records,
  • 39:24etcetera and then you'll be able
  • 39:26to date the form and continue.
  • 39:29So I think that's another way to
  • 39:31really try to get your documents
  • 39:33and your information to to us to
  • 39:35be able to use that for research.
  • 39:37So I thought that was exciting
  • 39:38way to kind of bypass not finding
  • 39:40that provider at that moment.
  • 39:42You can upload documentation as well and
  • 39:46that's the that's what I had to share.
  • 39:54Thank you, Tanya.
  • 39:55So I believe everybody was able to
  • 39:58get some answers to your questions
  • 40:01regarding connection of records and
  • 40:04also about how we protect the data
  • 40:06and it's your data that remains there.
  • 40:08I think next we will move on to listen
  • 40:12to Say Sir and his conversation about
  • 40:15more diversity in the population that
  • 40:19we have or the community that we have.
  • 40:23And many other aspects which are
  • 40:24also important for this study.
  • 40:26So say, Sir, it's over to you.
  • 40:29Thank you, Hornali. Hi, everyone.
  • 40:30My name is Ezra Caravaggio.
  • 40:32I'm one of the research
  • 40:33coordinators of the study.
  • 40:35And I wanted to speak with
  • 40:37you on a couple of things.
  • 40:39First, regarding diversity.
  • 40:40And we want to make sure that our
  • 40:43group of participants is as diverse
  • 40:46as possible because we want to
  • 40:48be sure that we're capturing the
  • 40:51experience of everyone or that most
  • 40:53people are are experiencing in in the
  • 40:56United States or whatever you are.
  • 40:59So we are making efforts to improve
  • 41:02the diversity of our participants and
  • 41:04we I wanted to ask you if you have
  • 41:07any ideas on what can we do better to
  • 41:11improve the engagement of communities
  • 41:13that have typically being under
  • 41:15represented in in clinical studies.
  • 41:18And we're open to it and we're open
  • 41:20to feedback if there is something
  • 41:22that AUS participant feel that may
  • 41:25be a barrier for other people to
  • 41:27to join the study where we welcome
  • 41:29every comment that you may have.
  • 41:32We want to have a rich and diverse
  • 41:34population of participants.
  • 41:36And so the idea behind that is that
  • 41:40we can produce information that
  • 41:42everyone can apply to themselves.
  • 41:44So yeah, that's one point.
  • 41:46If you have any ideas and
  • 41:50feedback regarding our efforts,
  • 41:52they are very much well received.
  • 41:54The second point that I wanted
  • 41:55to ask you as participants is
  • 41:57that in some of the surveys,
  • 41:59particularly in the symptoms surveys
  • 42:02or in the diagnosis surveys,
  • 42:04we found that a lot of you are
  • 42:07clicking none of the above,
  • 42:09meaning that of delays of symptoms
  • 42:11or diagnosis that we're listing.
  • 42:13You are not identifying the
  • 42:15ones that you are experiencing.
  • 42:17So I wanted to ask you too,
  • 42:19if you think that we are keeping out
  • 42:24some of some key aspects of your experience,
  • 42:27please let us know.
  • 42:28You can type in the chat or you can
  • 42:30e-mail us to Yale. Listen, study.
  • 42:32Sorry.
  • 42:33Yeah,
  • 42:33listen,
  • 42:34study at yale.edu and we'll be
  • 42:36happy to modify what we're doing
  • 42:39to better capture your experience.
  • 42:42I will type in the e-mail in the chat
  • 42:44so you can have it and that's it.
  • 42:47Thank you.
  • 42:51I think now we can. Yeah,
  • 42:52we're not. Go ahead. Sorry,
  • 42:54no. Say Sir, are we taking questions now?
  • 42:57Leave it to you. Yeah, I'm. We'll
  • 42:59be more than happy we start answering
  • 43:03some questions that people may have.
  • 43:05We can go over the ones that are
  • 43:07still open or if you have any at
  • 43:10this point please feel free to
  • 43:12talk with. So what I have is a list
  • 43:15of 10 and we can have a few more maybe
  • 43:19from the list which are still open.
  • 43:22I believe Akiko and Harlan are both
  • 43:24here and we can start. Yeah, perfect.
  • 43:27We can start with a few questions
  • 43:30and then say Sir, you can add a
  • 43:32few more from the open questions.
  • 43:37So I'll start with the 10
  • 43:38that I have on my list.
  • 43:40Akiko, there are a few for
  • 43:41you which I will start with.
  • 43:43So the first question that we have here,
  • 43:47will there be any efforts towards
  • 43:49correlating immune features
  • 43:50with symptoms, example,
  • 43:52distinguishing patients presenting
  • 43:54with dysautonomia versus not?
  • 43:58Yes, absolutely.
  • 43:58That is our ultimate goal
  • 44:00is to be able to link the
  • 44:03symptoms to the immune features.
  • 44:05We've already started to do some
  • 44:07of that with the Mylon COVID
  • 44:09study and found for instance
  • 44:11select number of people who have
  • 44:15autoimmune auto antibodies to
  • 44:17certain type of G protein couple
  • 44:20receptors and sodium ion channels
  • 44:22were associated with the tinnitus.
  • 44:24So there is some sort of features
  • 44:26that are coming up to be
  • 44:28associated with specific symptoms,
  • 44:30but we also want to do the reverse as
  • 44:32the question the questioner is suggesting,
  • 44:34which is to take a particular symptom
  • 44:37or syndrome and then go back and look
  • 44:40at the immune features to see if
  • 44:42there's anything unique that's coming up.
  • 44:44So that's ultimately the goal.
  • 44:47Thank
  • 44:48you, Akiko. So the next question
  • 44:51is can you speak to whether in
  • 44:53the initial findings you have
  • 44:55seen this Autonomia in many long
  • 44:56COVID and backs injured folks.
  • 44:58It seems to be common.
  • 45:01Yes, dysautonomia is definitely happening.
  • 45:04I mean we haven't studied the
  • 45:06vaccine injured people yet,
  • 45:08but we are hoping to do
  • 45:10that with the lesson study.
  • 45:13But certainly with the myeloma and COVID,
  • 45:15there are people with dysautonomia
  • 45:18and Doctor David Petrino,
  • 45:20who really specializes in diagnosis
  • 45:23and treatment of various symptoms,
  • 45:25including dysautonomia,
  • 45:28is our partner in this.
  • 45:29So he's also a partner in the
  • 45:32Yale lesson study as well.
  • 45:33So we're very excited and
  • 45:35fortunate to have an expert like
  • 45:37him on board to help us with it.
  • 45:41Yeah. And I'll just say quickly that
  • 45:44just as Akiko said that the hope is to be
  • 45:48able to provide a almost like an Atlas,
  • 45:50a map of the different kinds of
  • 45:52manifestations that people are facing.
  • 45:54See who's similar,
  • 45:55who's different and then see whether
  • 45:57or not we can reflect this in the immune,
  • 46:00what we're calling immune signatures,
  • 46:01the the unique ways that that the immune
  • 46:05system seems to be signaling us around the
  • 46:08different features of the immune system.
  • 46:10And so just what you're asking
  • 46:11is exactly what we're hoping.
  • 46:13Can we get large numbers of people
  • 46:15with similar clusters of symptoms and
  • 46:17then see whether they have distinctive
  • 46:19biological signals which can serve
  • 46:22both for diagnostics and therapeutics,
  • 46:24help us be able to identify and monitor
  • 46:26and then ultimately find targets
  • 46:28to treat for each of these people?
  • 46:30Because I think both of us, Akiko,
  • 46:32believe that that this is more
  • 46:34than one disease.
  • 46:35It's it's actually different people
  • 46:36are being affected in very different
  • 46:38ways and that's why they're manifesting
  • 46:40with very different symptom complexes.
  • 46:41And it's up to us to sort of find the clues,
  • 46:44crack the case,
  • 46:45understand what it is that's causing
  • 46:48this vast spectrum of symptoms.
  • 46:50And for different clusters of people
  • 46:52who are experiencing similar ones,
  • 46:54can we find common mechanisms.
  • 46:56And so that that's really the hope.
  • 46:57And that's why we need large numbers
  • 46:59of people because we want to.
  • 47:01I I think of it like an Atlas.
  • 47:02And it's almost like who lives
  • 47:03in your neighborhood?
  • 47:04This is an unfortunate neighborhood
  • 47:06because everybody's afflicted by a
  • 47:08sort of similar cluster of symptoms.
  • 47:09But if we can get large enough people
  • 47:11together as opposed to what's happening now,
  • 47:14or somebody goes to the doctor
  • 47:14and people say,
  • 47:15I've never seen this before or I
  • 47:16don't know what this is, you know,
  • 47:18that we start getting large numbers
  • 47:19of people who saying, like, yeah,
  • 47:20I'm not alone.
  • 47:21There are a lot of people like me there.
  • 47:25There are a lot of people like
  • 47:26me in the world.
  • 47:27And if we can start bringing those
  • 47:29people together and looking whether
  • 47:31they have similar biological signals
  • 47:33that that that help us understand
  • 47:36mechanism and lead us to produce
  • 47:39diagnostic and therapeutic advances,
  • 47:40that would be wonderful.
  • 47:41And that's the hope with this.
  • 47:46Thank you. Harlan.
  • 47:47There's another question
  • 47:49which I will just present.
  • 47:51So here is a person who's
  • 47:54suffering from vaccine adverse
  • 47:56events and this person is asking,
  • 47:58will you be contacting us to
  • 48:00participate in the biological sample
  • 48:02collection or should we let you know?
  • 48:04We are interested.
  • 48:07Absolutely. So as I mentioned,
  • 48:09we're very excited to expand our studies
  • 48:12to vaccine injured people and Bornelli,
  • 48:18Cesar Harlan and I meet every week to
  • 48:22discuss the type of participants that
  • 48:24we we would like to recruit first.
  • 48:27We don't have the resources
  • 48:29to recruit everybody.
  • 48:31We'd love to, but we don't have the kind
  • 48:33of resource needed to to analyze everybody.
  • 48:36But we will be starting with a small
  • 48:39subset of people and then expanding
  • 48:41that as we hopefully raise enough funds
  • 48:44to be able to look at immune features.
  • 48:47But definitely our first a set of vaccine
  • 48:51injured samples will be coming shortly,
  • 48:53right, Bornelli?
  • 48:55OK, great. And
  • 48:57and by the way, I think this is a really
  • 48:59good idea that we could talk about,
  • 49:00which is do people want to express
  • 49:02interest in, in being part of the
  • 49:04biological part of the study.
  • 49:06Then we'll have a long list of people
  • 49:08who've already expressed interest.
  • 49:09Like Akiko said, we're by the way,
  • 49:10we're constantly looking for resources to
  • 49:12be able to expand and do more of these.
  • 49:14But you know, I think it might be a good
  • 49:16idea based on this comment to think that
  • 49:18we can create a waiting list of people
  • 49:20who are interested in in that way.
  • 49:22We know that, you know,
  • 49:24these are people who are really
  • 49:25eager to participate in this part.
  • 49:27So that's a really good comment.
  • 49:28Thank you.
  • 49:31Yeah, it would be great Harlan if Kindred,
  • 49:34I mean so they listen site can
  • 49:36have some sort of marking to say
  • 49:39that if people are interested in
  • 49:41donating their blood and saliva,
  • 49:42it would be easy for us to just
  • 49:45sort of cross check that with the
  • 49:47participants that we we want to recruit.
  • 49:49So maybe it's it's something
  • 49:51that you can work on for us.
  • 49:57Thank you Akipo and Harlan.
  • 49:59The next question is about the recent
  • 50:01MDPI article which has shown that
  • 50:04persistent spike protein in brain
  • 50:06and heart of a patient who died
  • 50:09three weeks after third vaccine.
  • 50:11How will you be assessing for
  • 50:12persistent spike protein that may
  • 50:14be triggering an immune response?
  • 50:17Yeah, that's an excellent question.
  • 50:20We'd love to do tissue level analysis
  • 50:23but obviously taking biopsies from
  • 50:25brain and lung and you know places that
  • 50:28are difficult would not be possible
  • 50:33possible we are you know so so the
  • 50:35autopsy studies and other studies
  • 50:37are are coming out where people are
  • 50:39starting to look at these issues but
  • 50:41even with the COVID samples this
  • 50:43is sort of been a difficult thing.
  • 50:46With the recover though they are having
  • 50:49a an entire sort of you know funding
  • 50:53for a collection of autopsy samples
  • 50:56from people who who've had long COVID.
  • 51:00I I I don't think they are including
  • 51:02vaccine injured people and not group.
  • 51:04But aside from having a tissue sample,
  • 51:08which is maybe difficult in some cases,
  • 51:11but there are some efforts to look at
  • 51:16circulating spike and circulating antigens
  • 51:18at least that's easier to collect.
  • 51:22And we are actively working on looking at
  • 51:25circulating spike from people with long
  • 51:27COVID and and people with vaccine injuries.
  • 51:30So that's just a proxy for something
  • 51:33that may be happening elsewhere,
  • 51:35but that that's sort of what we are
  • 51:38you know immediately planning to do.
  • 51:40Thank
  • 51:41you, Akiko. The next question is
  • 51:43about a recent Swedish study found
  • 51:46antibodies for latent viruses in saliva,
  • 51:49but not always in the blood.
  • 51:51The saliva be tested for
  • 51:53reactivated viruses as well in
  • 51:54case it's missed in the blood.
  • 51:57Absolutely, and that's why we are including
  • 52:00blood collection in the Listen study.
  • 52:02So with the Mylon COVID study with
  • 52:04Mount Sinai, we didn't have access to
  • 52:07the saliva and we really wish we did.
  • 52:09But in the Yale Listen study,
  • 52:11we will be asking participants to
  • 52:13to donate their saliva and blood
  • 52:15so we can look at both mucosal
  • 52:18and systemic immune responses.
  • 52:20And in fact we are planning to
  • 52:22look at viral genome as well as
  • 52:25antibody reactive to virus antigens
  • 52:27both in saliva and in circulation.
  • 52:32So the next question is
  • 52:34about auto antibodies.
  • 52:35So you have mentioned not seeing
  • 52:37elevated GPCR auto antibodies in those
  • 52:40of long haulers compared to controls.
  • 52:42Can you comment on that please?
  • 52:46Right. So as I shared with you last time,
  • 52:49we are collaborating with Doctor Aaron
  • 52:52Ring's laboratory here at Yale who
  • 52:55developed a technology called rapid
  • 52:58extracellular antigen profiling or REAP.
  • 53:00And according to that analysis which
  • 53:04looks at over 6000 different antigens
  • 53:07that are expressed on the surface
  • 53:10or are secreted from human cells,
  • 53:12we do not see a consistent, first of all,
  • 53:16we don't see a public or universal
  • 53:18antigen that people are reacting to.
  • 53:20So it's not like you have a specific
  • 53:23antigen that everyone is responding.
  • 53:24That's definitely not the case.
  • 53:26We also don't see elevated levels
  • 53:29of auto antibodies against the
  • 53:326000 plus auto antigens in long
  • 53:36COVID patients versus the controls.
  • 53:39So there there's no unique pattern.
  • 53:42There's no increase in auto
  • 53:44antibody reactivity and intensity.
  • 53:47There are of course you know
  • 53:49various different auto antibodies
  • 53:51that all of us carry.
  • 53:52That doesn't mean that we
  • 53:54are going to have disease.
  • 53:55It's just something that B cells make,
  • 53:58but it's just sort of quiescent auto antibody
  • 54:00and that we are seeing in healthy control,
  • 54:03convalescent control and long COVID.
  • 54:05But that doesn't mean that there doesn't
  • 54:08exist auto antibody that actually
  • 54:10causes disease in a subset of people.
  • 54:12So I I already mentioned
  • 54:14about the sodium ion channel,
  • 54:15but there may be other auto
  • 54:18antibodies against intracellular
  • 54:19antigens or nuclear antigens,
  • 54:20who knows that could be causing disease
  • 54:24and that we're not dismissing those.
  • 54:27About the GPCR,
  • 54:28yeah,
  • 54:28there are many different ways of us
  • 54:31saying although anybody has GPCRS
  • 54:33and depending on the sensitivity and
  • 54:36specificity and having the right
  • 54:38kind of control groups to compare.
  • 54:40That's what I was emphasizing last
  • 54:42time and if anyone has studies that
  • 54:45have included the proper controls,
  • 54:48please do send it to me.
  • 54:49I may have missed that,
  • 54:51but so far I haven't seen great
  • 54:54controlled studies to compare auto
  • 54:57antibodies to GPCRS in various different
  • 55:00conditions with the controls and
  • 55:03and so that that that was sort of
  • 55:05related to what what I said last time.
  • 55:08Thank you, Akiko. I think I'll pass
  • 55:10on to Cesar now so that he can ask
  • 55:13a few more questions over to you.
  • 55:17So I think it's almost time meant
  • 55:18to be respectful of everyone.
  • 55:20So I'm, I know that there
  • 55:21are a lot of open questions.
  • 55:23I'm sorry that we won't be
  • 55:24able to cover them all.
  • 55:26Maybe we can do something similar,
  • 55:28put together a document after the
  • 55:30town hall and answering most of them.
  • 55:34But yeah, I don't think we have
  • 55:36time for more questions, Bernali.
  • 55:41OK. So I think we can list the
  • 55:44questions and maybe put them
  • 55:46up like the responses later.
  • 55:48Yeah, sounds like a plan.
  • 55:51If there is nothing else to respond to,
  • 55:54we are already running short of time.
  • 55:55I think we will thank all of you,
  • 55:57the panelists and the
  • 55:58participants who have joined us.
  • 56:00Please ask questions,
  • 56:02write to us, please,
  • 56:04like finish the surveys whenever
  • 56:07you receive an e-mail and also
  • 56:09connect your medical records.
  • 56:11These are all very important for us
  • 56:13and we would love to have controls
  • 56:16we did not have long COVID who do
  • 56:18not have vaccine adverse events
  • 56:20to report or neither together,
  • 56:22and we need these controls in
  • 56:24order to compare and contrast.
  • 56:27Thank you all for your presence here today.
  • 56:29Thank you. Thank you so much.
  • 56:32See you again soon.