Institute of Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio), joint center of the Universitat de València and the CSIC.

The ANTICOR project, led by Ron Geller, Researcher of the Ramón y Cajal program at the Institute of Integrative Systems Biology I2SysBio (joint center Universitat de València-CSIC), proposes a new strategy for the screening of drugs and antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. This is one of the first seven initiatives supported by the Generalitat Valenciana and announced this Thursday, in the fight against COVID-19, after a call to the regional innovation system. This project is part of another initiative supported by the CSIC within its Interdisciplinary Thematic Platform PTI Global Health.

The technology proposed by the ANTICOR project is based on an economical, fast, safe and efficient system that will allow the development of a high-performance platform for the screening and evaluation of everything type of compounds that block the entry of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, such as antiviral drugs and antibodies. This technology will also be used to evaluate infection rates in populations using a relatively rapid serological test.

The method has already been validated in the laboratory and uses a non-infectious vesicular stomatitis virus that is complemented by the coronavirus protein responsible for the recognition of human cells. This allows the key moment of cellular invasion by the virus to be mimicked in the laboratory. According to Ron Geller, member of the Pathogen Systems Biology Program at I2SysBio “it is a procedure, very safe for researchers, that allows testing molecules that interfere with the cell invasion process. human.”

The expert points out that “the method is very easy to robotize to perform thousands of tests a day in an automated manner.” The proposed technology also allows testing for antibodies and detecting all individuals who have been infected, even if they no longer have an active infection or symptoms of the disease, and can therefore provide more realistic measures of infection rates. In addition, serum therapies against the virus can be evaluated. The development of applications of this technology on a commercial scale would be relatively rapid. They are also part of the Viral Biology research group led by Ron Geller, Víctor Latorre and Florian Mattenberger.

To the call for research and innovation of the Generalitat Valenciana against COVID-19, 265 projects have been presented, of which a first group of 7 has been approved, among which is ANTICOR. The Department of Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society participates in the coordination of this initiative; the Valencian Innovation Agency (AVI); the Department of Universal Health and Public Health, and the Department of Finance and Economic Model. The ANTICOR project is also part of an antiviral screening initiative supported by the Interdisciplinary Thematic Platform (PTI) Global Health of the Higher Scientific Research Council (CSIC).

Viral Biology Research Group: i2sysbio.uv.es/viralbiology