Lymphopure

All studies were approved by the Institutional Review Board of Washington University in St Louis. Written consent was obtained from all participants. Seventy-seven participants who had recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection and eleven control individuals without a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection were enrolled (Extended Data Tables 1,4). Blood samples were collected in EDTA tubes and PBMCs were enriched by density gradient centrifugation over Ficoll 1077 (GE) or Lymphopure (BioLegend). The remaining red blood cells were lysed with ammonium chloride lysis buffer, and cells were immediately used or cryopreserved in 10% dimethyl sulfoxide in fetal bovine serum (FBS). Bone marrow aspirates of approximately 30 ml were collected in EDTA tubes from the iliac crest of 18 individuals who had recovered from COVID-19 and the control individuals. Bone marrow mononuclear cells were enriched by density gradient centrifugation over Ficoll 1077, and the remaining red blood cells were lysed with ammonium chloride buffer (Lonza) and washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) supplemented with 2% FBS and 2 mM EDTA. Bone marrow plasma cells were enriched from bone marrow mononuclear cells using the CD138 Positive Selection Kit II (Stemcell) and immediately used for ELISpot or cryopreserved in 10% dimethyl sulfoxide in FBS.

Peripheral blood samples were collected in heparin-treated tubes. PBMCs were isolated by density gradient centrifugation according to the manufacturer's instructions (Lymphopure, Biolegend, San Diego, CA, USA). Cells were re-suspended at a density of 10 6 /mL in RPMI 1640 medium (Gibco, Grand Island, NY, USA) supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum (FCS, Capricorn Scientific, Ebsdorfergrund, Germa-