Case Study: University of Colorado detects COVID-19 methylation signatures with Illumina

Disease classifiers based on DNA methylation patterns offer the potential to predict clinical outcomes

The University of Colorado, through Dr. Kathleen Barnes and the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine (CCPM), sought to battle the SARS-CoV-2 virus by moving beyond standard PCR testing. Their challenge was to find a way to detect COVID-19 infection and predict clinical deterioration by identifying a specific epigenetic signature that standard tests could not find. To accomplish this, they partnered with vendor Illumina.

The solution implemented with Illumina involved customizing the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip to create an "EPIC+" array targeting genes relevant to infectious disease. Using this Illumina solution, the team discovered a SARS-CoV-2 specific epigenetic signature detectable in host DNA. The results demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity in predicting both infection and in-hospital clinical deterioration, providing clinicians with a potential new tool to detect the virus and predict a patient's course.

University of Colorado

Kathleen C. Barnes

Founding Director