SOCIAL DISTANCING AND STRENGTHENED RESEARCH COMMUNITY EFFORTS TO FIGHT PANDEMICS: PRODUCING A LOW-COST SARS-CoV-2 ANTIGEN

PIGNATARO, MARÍA F.; ALICIA M ZELADA; ARGENTINIAN ANTICOVID CONSORTIUM

Congreso; LVI SAIB Meeting/XV SAMIGE Meeting; 2021

SAIB/SAMIGE

At the beginning of the worldwide known SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, we have designed a strong collaborative working flowamong researchers of different institutes in Argentina, taking advantage of each member´s expertise. This effective workingnetwork allowed us to accelerate research and developments in a synergistic way. Our goals were to obtain antigens (proteinsand multiprotein complexes) useful for the diagnosis and therapy against COVID19 and to make these developments availableto society in the fastest and most cost-accessible possible fashion. In this scenario, we will present the advances regarding thescalable production of the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. Also, we will present theimprovements in the design of an antigen with better immunogenic characteristics compared with those of wild-typemonomeric RBD, obtained through the covalent coupling of RBD with other proteins. Our efforts opened a big window ofnew and promising collaborative arms with other groups outside of our consortium: the purified proteins were useful for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody detection, IgY production, camelid immunization for nanobody selection, vaccine investigations, andmonoclonal antibody developments. We are confident not only that we will be able to positively contribute to the pandemicsolution’s opportunities, but that the collaborative way among institutions –often underexploited– we chose to achieve to helpfight pandemics will remain after the emergency is gone.Acknowledgments: We would like to thank INTA (Incuinta), Bioinnovo SA, UNPaz, UNLP, UNQ, UNCUYO, ANLAP, andUNSAM for collaboration; Oxigeno Central, LANAIS-PRO-EM, Technisys S.A., Masonería Argentina, Asoc. CivilMalmann, UBA and ANPCyT and CONICET for resources. We thank Secretaría de investigación, Oficina de vinculacióntecnológica, and FundaCEN, FCEN, UBA, for their continuous support.Argentinian AntiCovid Consortium (in alphabetical order with equal contribution of all authors): Claudia R. Arbeitman,Analía Amante, Gabriela Auge, Matías Blaustein, Luis Bredeston, Enrique S. Corapi, Patricio O. Craig, Leandro A. Cossio,Liliana Dain, Cecilia D’Alessio, Fernanda Elias, Natalia B. Fernández, Yamila Gándola, Javier Gasulla, Natalia Gorojovsky,Gustavo E. Gudesblat, María G. Herrera, Lorena I. Ibañez, Tommy Idrovo Hidalgo, Matías Iglesias Randon, LauraKamenetzky, Alejandro D. Nadra, Diego G. Noseda, Carlos H. Paván, María F. Pavan, María F. Pignataro, Javier Ramirez,Ernesto Roman, Lucas A. M. Ruberto, Natalia Rubinstein, Javier Santos, Francisco Velazquez Duarte, Diana E. Wetzler andAlicia M. Zelada.