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AUSTRALIA
Coronavirus: Alpacas could offer solution to COVID-19 By Samantha Robin - Media and Communica�ons Manager The Walter and Eliza Hall Ins�tute of Medical Research
In a global search for treatments against COVID-19, the humble alpaca may hold the answer. Researchers at Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Ins�tute are studying alpacas for the unique, extremely small, an�bodies they produce – called nanobodies – in an effort to understand which of these an�bodies are most effec�ve in blocking SARSCoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. As part of the research, a group of alpacas in regional Victoria are being immunised with a synthe�c, non-infec�ous part of SARS-CoV-2, the ‘spike’ protein, which s�cks out from the surface of the virus.
Although this is not infec�ous, and does not cause the alpacas to develop disease, it allows the alpacas to develop an an�body response. Researchers then extract these an�body gene sequences to enable produc�on of nanobodies in the laboratory, and examine them in the lab to see which are the most effec�ve at blocking the virus. These an�bodies could enable the development of new treatments against COVID-19. An�body therapies are already in clinical use for diseases such as cancer, inflammatory and autoimmune condi�ons. The project’s lead researcher, Associate Professor Wai-Hong Tham, said her research program was searching for new an�bodies that could prevent the COVID-19 coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, from binding to human lung cells – the first step in the virus infec�on cycle.
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