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Using a reverse genetics system, researchers have engineered a labeled version of the SARS-CoV-2, which turns cells green when they become infected with the virus. The technology can significantly help reduce the length of time needed to evaluate developing COVID-19 vaccines and bring them to market sooner. A multidisciplinary team at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston working to combat the COVID-19 virus has a system that will unlock researchers’ ability to more quickly develop and evaluate developing vaccines, diagnose infected patients and explore whether or how the virus has evolved.
The scientists, led by Pei-Yong Shi, developed the system by engineering a reverse genetic system for SARS coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2, that is causing the current COVID-19 pandemic. The study is currently available in Cell Host & Microbe. A Reverse genetic system is one of the most useful tools for studying and combatting viruses. The system allows researchers to make the virus in the lab and manipulate it in a petri dish. Using this system, the UTMB team has engineered a version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that is labeled with neon green. When the labeled virus infects a cell, the infected cell turns green.
“The labeled virus could be used to rapidly determine whether a patient has already been infected by the new coronavirus or evaluate how well developing vaccines are inducing antibodies that block infection of the virus. The level of antibodies induced by a vaccine is the most important parameter in predicting how well a vaccine works,” said Shi, I.H. Kempner professor of Human Genetics at UTMB. “The neon green labeled virus system allows us to test patients’ samples in 12 hours in a high-throughput manner that tests many samples at once. In contrast, the conventional method can only test a few specimens at a time with a long turnaround time of a week.” “This technology can significantly reduce how long it takes to evaluate developing vaccines and ultimately bring them to the market,” said Xuping Xie, the UTMB Research Scientist who designed and developed the genetic system. “UTMB will be very happy to make this technology widely available to both academia and industry researchers working to quickly develop countermeasures.”
Published in Cell Host Microbe:
