A team of researchers has developed a new nanomechanical technique for fast, one-step, immune-affinity tests, which can quantify the immune response induced by different COVID-19 variants in serum.
Led by Professor Martin Hegner, Principal Investigator in the Trinity Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) and Trinity’s School of Physics, the team’s specific quantitative assay enables direct classification of variant-binding properties for screening emerging variants.
The major advantage of the newly developed technique with respect to (existing, commonly used) ELISA tests is that while it is equally sensitive—with added single amino-acid resolution—and able to directly detect multiple variants by in situ differential analysis, it can also do so in a mere fraction of the time.
Professor Hegner and his co-workers focused on COVID-19 variants of concern and their generated humoral immune response. Humoral immunity is an antibody-mediated response that occurs when foreign material is detected in the body. Given that the COVID-19 virus has developed substantial mutations in the spike protein this can undermine the efficacy of current vaccines and monoclonal antibody therapies.
The technology developed by Professor Hegner and his team can assist vaccine development studies in phase 1–3, with focus on comparing protection patterns and analyzing novel vaccine candidates.
The team’s findings have been published in the interdisciplinary journal Nanoscale Advances.
Professor Hegner said, “Our measurements match the statistical analysis of, for example, the transmissibility of the alpha-variant that can otherwise only be gained by analyzing the development of the disease proliferation within a population over weeks. We believe that this new technology can improve and speed up the public health guidance process.
“The direct technique greatly simplifies the preparation protocol that in ELISA includes many washings and waiting steps, hence reducing the amount of consumables needed and thus the relative cost. It will therefore be well suited to use in emergency situations.”
News
Nasal Alzheimer’s Vaccine To Start Human Trials for the First Time
Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston Massachusetts will soon begin Phase I trials of a nasal vaccine designed to prevent or slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a press release said. This is the [...]
Innovations in Nanocomposites: A Future Outlook
Nanocomposites are a class of nanomaterials, where one or more nanostructured materials (organic/inorganic) are incorporated in metal, polymer, or ceramic to obtain a new material with many unique properties. Nanocomposites are applied in various [...]
Pfizer – updated version of vaccine ‘ready in 100 days’ if the new Omicron resistant to its current vaccine
Pfizer said it will be able to manufacture and distribute an updated version of its COVID-19 vaccine within 100 days if the new variant Omicron is found to be resistant to its current vaccine. [...]
B.1.1.529 – What do we know about the new ‘worst ever’ Covid variant?
UK places South Africa on red travel list over B.1.1.529 variant picked up by scientists in country. What is the new variant and why is it a concern? Scientists have detected a new Covid-19 [...]
Scientists warn of new Covid variant with high number of mutations
The B.1.1.529 variant was first spotted in Botswana and six cases have been found in South Africa. Scientists have said a new Covid variant that carries an “extremely high number” of mutations may drive [...]
New microscope uses photonics to gain insights into superbugs
Scientists are building a new super-resolution microscope that uses laser light to study the inner workings and behaviours of superbugs to gain new insights into how they cause disease. The microscope will allow scientists [...]
Researchers make ultra-sensitive cancer detector from 2D materials
Cells can produce unique electrical signals. These signals can be linked to various cancers, such as the breast, lung, liver, brain, pancreas and prostate cancers, meaning that they can be used as indicators for [...]
New sensor detects ever smaller nanoparticles
Conventional microscopes produce enlarged images of small structures or objects with the help of light. Nanoparticles, however, are so small that they hardly absorb or scatter light and, hence, remain invisible. Optical resonators increase [...]
How Will the COVID Pills Change the Pandemic?
From a new article By Dhruv Khullar in the New York Times: New antiviral drugs are startlingly effective against the coronavirus—if they’re taken in time. n March, 2020, researchers at Emory University published a paper about a [...]
Is Delta the last Covid ‘super variant’?
Every week, a group of epidemiologists across the north-east of the United States joins a Zoom call entirely devoted to discussing the latest hints of new Covid-19 variants being reported around the world. “It’s like the [...]
Cancer cells use ‘tiny tentacles’ to suppress the immune system
To grow and spread, cancer cells must evade the immune system. Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital and MIT used the power of nanotechnology to discover a new way that cancer can disarm its [...]
Cancer cells use ‘tiny tentacles’ to suppress the immune system
To grow and spread, cancer cells must evade the immune system. Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital and MIT used the power of nanotechnology to discover a new way that cancer can disarm its [...]
3D printing approaches atomic dimensions
A new 3D printing technology makes the production of complex metallic objects at the nanoscale possible. A team of chemists led by a scientist from the University of Oldenburg has developed an electrochemical technique [...]
Nanoscale ‘computer’ controls function of protein, influences cell behavior
The creation of nanoscale computers for use in precision health care has long been a dream of many scientists and health care providers. Now, for the first time, researchers at Penn State have produced [...]
Could liposomes be the unsung heroes of the pandemic?
Liposomes may be the unsung heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without the protection of these microscopic vesicles, the delicate strands of messenger RNA (mRNA) that lie at the heart of the Pfizer and Moderna [...]
Pfizer agrees to let other companies make its COVID-19 pill
London: Drugmaker Pfizer has signed a deal with a UN-backed group to allow other manufacturers to make its experimental COVID-19 pill, a move that could make the treatment available to more than half of the [...]
