When Annelies Bos came across a LinkedIn post about exquAIro’s AI programme for biomedical researchers, she immediately recognised its potential for the Long COVID field. As co-founder and board member Research of Stichting Long COVID (Foundation), Bos is constantly looking for new ways to accelerate biomedical research into a disease that still leaves many patients without answers. What caught her attention was not just the technology itself, but the possibility of giving researchers practical tools to uncover patterns in a highly complex and still poorly understood condition.
“Long COVID is still such a young and complex field,” Bos says. “AI could help researchers detect patterns and connections that humans might miss. We felt this could really move the field forward.” That insight eventually led Stichting Long COVID to sponsor one of its researchers for exquAIro’s Biomedical AI Bootcamp: Dr. Hung-Jen Oliver Chen from Amsterdam UMC.
From Patient to Research Advocate
For Bos, the urgency behind the foundation’s work is deeply personal. Previously working as a gynaecologist, she contracted COVID-19 in March 2020 and never fully recovered. After two years of illness, she had to stop working as a physician. “In 2022 there was still almost nothing for patients,” Bos explains.
“There was very little understanding of the disease, no treatments and patients did not know where to turn for help. That’s why we, Ellen Bark and myself, founded Stichting Long COVID in June 2022. The mission is to give Long COVID patients their lives back. We aim to do this by stimulating and funding both pre-clinical and clinical research into causes and treatments of Long COVID.”
From the start, many patients and physicians affected by Long COVID themselves are involved in the initiative. Stichting Long COVID combines scientific urgency with a strong focus on collaboration, practical solutions, unravelling causes and treatment development. Today, the foundation actively supports collaboration between researchers across the Netherlands. One of its major achievements is the creation of a national Long COVID research consortium involving six university medical centres and around 50 researchers working across multiple biomedical research lines.
Bos believes collaboration is essential in a field as complex as Long COVID. “We cannot continue working on isolated islands,” she says. “Researchers need to work together, combine expertise, share data, samples and knowledge and explore new approaches.”
Pioneering Long Covid Studies
Dr. Chen was already working on pioneering Long COVID studies at Amsterdam UMC, including research into autoantibodies and microclots, areas where advanced data analysis is becoming increasingly important.
He also brought prior experience with machine learning from his PhD research. But according to Chen, the rapid development of AI is opening entirely new possibilities. “Long COVID research produces huge amounts of complex biological data,” he explains. “AI can help us identify subtle signals that the human brain alone may overlook.”
After an introductory session between exquAIro and the consortium researchers, Chen quickly emerged as the ideal participant for the programme. Bos recalls: “Oliver immediately showed enthusiasm for AI and already had strong analytical skills. We believed he could bring this knowledge back into the wider research consortium.”
More Than a Course
For Chen, one of the biggest surprises was the highly personalised approach of the bootcamp. “This is not just a standard course,” he says. “The programme is tailored to your own research questions and ideas. The highly experienced team really helps you formulate new directions and opportunities.”
That personalised coaching already led to unexpected breakthroughs. During the programme, Chen developed some ideas for using AI-driven data analysis and wearables to monitor Long COVID patients over time, an approach he sees clear opportunities for further exploration.
“In Long COVID research, we often only look at snapshots of patients at one moment in time,” he explains. “AI opens possibilities to analyse changes over time and detect patterns we previously couldn’t see.” The bootcamp also encouraged him to explore AI applications in image analysis, potentially creating new research pathways.
Creating a Snowball Effect
For Stichting Long COVID, the value of the investment goes beyond a single researcher. The foundation sees the programme as a catalyst for broader innovation across the entire research ecosystem.
“The knowledge doesn’t stay with one person,” Bos explains. “Oliver can share what he learns with the consortium, inspire collaborations, and help develop new research projects, publications, and grant opportunities. That creates a snowball effect.” The foundation is already considering future participation for other researchers, depending on the opportunities ahead.
For exquAIro, the collaboration reflects a shared ambition: helping biomedical researchers use AI not as a buzzword, but as a practical tool to accelerate scientific discovery. And in a field where patients are still waiting for answers, every acceleration matters.
For more information on the Stichting Long Covid, please visit their website.