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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WTVF) – An “ultra-potent” monoclonal antibody has been discovered in the fight against COVID-19, thanks to technology developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the hospital said on Wednesday.
Vanderbilt said the technology – called LIBRA-seq, which stands for Linking B-cell Receptor to Antigen Specificity through sequencing – has helped accelerate the discovery of antibodies capable of neutralizing several variants of SARS-CoV-2, including the variant delta.
The research was published Sept. 15 in the journal “Cell Reports”.
VUMC said researchers can also use the technology to screen for antibodies against other viruses that have not yet caused human disease but have the potential to do so.
“It’s a way to proactively build a repository of potential therapies for future outbreaks,” said Ivelin Georgiev, PhD, director of the Vanderbilt Program in Computational Microbiology and Immunology and Associate Director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation . “Pathogens continue to evolve, and we are essentially catching up.”
According to a statement from Vanderbilt, “Georgiev and his colleagues describe the isolation of a monoclonal antibody from a patient who had recovered from COVID-19 that” shows potent neutralization “against SARS-CoV-2. It is also effective against variants of the virus that are slowing efforts to control the pandemic. “
Georgiev said a “more proactive approach” is needed to help anticipate future outbreaks before they occur and prevent a recurrence of COVID-19, “or something worse to happen in the future” .
VUMC said that LIBRA-seq was developed in 2019 by Ian Setliff, PhD, a former graduate student of Georgiev’s lab who now works in the biotech industry, and Andrea Shiakolas, currently a graduate student at Vanderbilt.
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