
In the fight against COVID-19, researchers from the University of Ottawa are working to identify therapeutic and diagnostic antibiodies as well as a nasal spray vaccine.
A team of nine labs, led by University of Ottawa virologist Dr. Marc- André Langlois, secured $1-million in CIHR funding to pursue a combination of tools against COVID-19. The funding is part of a government investment totaling $26.8 million for research into solutions to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Through access to a certified Containment Level 3 lab in Ottawa, the University of Ottawa and National Research Council scientists can safely work on the live infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus.
“We hope to isolate antibodies that are cross-reactive to several key members of the coronavirus family. So if ever there is another outbreak of a new coronavirus, we will already have tools to counter it.”
The team will then attempt to develop a vaccine. Taking a different approach from other researchers, they will use various plants to mass-produce the viral spike proteins that are on the surface of the coronavirus. These proteins become a target that the immune system can learn to detect as a threat. The plant-based method is cheaper, easier and safer than traditional methods that use animal cell cultures in bioreactors. The goal is to use the resulting viral proteins to make a nasal spray vaccine.
To learn more visit University of Ottawa.