WARP SPEED

How Argonne National Laboratory aided the speed of COVID-19 vaccines

AERIAL PHOTO OF THE ADVANCED PHOTON SOURCE FACILITY AT ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY

Back in February 2020, Hinsdale Magazine took readers on a tour of Argonne National Laboratory in nearby Lemont. One of the more impressive facilities on the campus is the Advanced Photon Source (APS).

Little did we know that early that January, the worldwide collaborative effort to combat COVID-19 was already underway at the APS and at facilities like it around the world.

Fortunately, as you know, in record time, vaccines are now being deployed to bring COVID-19 under control.

From understanding the virus at the outset, Argonne has been heavily involved.

Here is the story of how Argonne and its APS and staff were able to make major contributions quickly and continuously.

The Argonne effort is led by Andrzej Joachimiak, director of the structural biology center (SBC) at beamline 19-ID-D of the APS. Joachimiak is a member of Argonne’s X-ray science division and the University of Chicago, and is also a co-director of the Center for Structural Genomics of Infectious Diseases (CSGID), a consortium of biologists from around the country.

“An outbreak such as COVID-19 is exactly what the CSGID was created for," Joachimiak said. "The virus is a complex system made up of at least 29 different proteins, and structural genomics have been the key to finding a treatment or a vaccine to curb this pandemic.”

Those contributions began in January, when the scientific community became aware of the outbreak in China and a genome of Continued on next page

Argonne crystallographer Karolina Michalska works at the structural biology center (SBC) at the Advanced Photon Source. SBC is an important site for the Center for Structural Genomics of Infectious Diseases, which marshals resources from various

institutions to fight viral outbreaks. (Image by Mark Lopez / Argonne National Laboratory)

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more than half of that number, using APS data,” said Stephen Streiffer, the APS. Argonne’s deputy laboratory director the virus became available. (A genome is a complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism.) Scientists have continuously used the powerful X-rays generated by the APS to determine the exact atomic for science and technology and the interim director of the APS. “One hundred structures means 100

“We called [the] National Institute opportunities to take on this disease, of Allergy and Infectious and the APS will continue Diseases (NIAID) on Jan. 10, “An outbreak such as COVID-19 to be an important part of and said, ‘Get us the genome right away,’” said Karla is exactly what the CSGID was that fight with structure 101 and beyond. ... Satchell, a microbiologist at Northwestern University and co-director of the created for. The virus is a complex system made up of at least 29 “The APS has dedicated more than 10,000 hours of time to research into the CSGID. “Fifteen days later, we had put together a big different proteins, and structural structure of SARS-CoV-2 this year, and has made platform. We wrote a white paper that said we would commit a huge amount of genomics have been the key to finding a treatment or a vaccine to curb its resources available to more than 80 groups of researchers from across resources to address the disease.” this pandemic.” the country, in addition to the work done by Argonne

The APS immediately - ANDRZEJ JOACHIMIAK, director of the structural biology center scientists there. With more dedicated its biological at beamline 19-ID-D of the APS than 100 structures of the research efforts to virus made available to the understanding the virus, also known arrangement of the virus’s proteins, world scientific community—more as SARS-CoV-2. As of mid-December, either alone or with compounds than any other U.S. light source—the scientists using the APS have deposited and antibodies that may be used for APS has been an important factor in more than 100 structures into the treatment. the effort to combat COVID-19. international protein data-bank, and “Much of what we know about “Just as what we learned from CSGID scientists are responsible for the SARS-CoV-2 virus comes from previous outbreaks helped to create

vaccines and treatments at record speed, what we are learning about SARS-CoV-2 at the APS will help fight not only this outbreak, but future ones.”

Regarding APS staff at Argonne, Joachimiak said, “We have extremely experienced people who have been working with me for more than 20 years. We work as a team, we know the system, we have the best possible technology and the most dedicated people.”

Joachimiak’s team has also been providing proteins and crystals for other research groups at more than 20 different labs around the world, assisting those without the facilities to synthesize and crystallize proteins. The philosophy of cooperation within the center extends outside of it as well

“Everything is interconnected,” he said.

Joachimiak said his team has also been solving structures of complexes with inhibitors, including various drug candidates that can stop the virus from attaching itself to human cells, or replicating itself. Other sites in the center have been working on vaccine candidates and antibodies, many using APS data to look for weaknesses in the virus’s defenses.

In addition to work centered at the APS facility, Argonne also has stateof-the-art supercomputing. Indeed, Argonne supercomputer researchers have been providing insights that helped form the foundation for the vaccines we now have. At the same time, other computer scientists have been modeling the further progression of the epidemic so that supply chains of vaccines have been able to get the approved vaccines out to the medical community as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Argonne also collaborates with the University of Chicago through the Howard Taylor Ricketts Laboratory (HTRL) on the Argonne campus. The mission of the HTRL is to carry out cutting-edge translational research on biodefense-related agents, as well as the causative agents of emerging infectious diseases like COVID-19.

At HTRL, John Bivona is the point man tasked with explaining to organizations all over the U.S. how to deal with COVID-19. He explains to research, clinical, production, testing, educational, developmental and other work environments how the virus is transmitted. He also shares his detailed knowledge of regulatory guidelines and standards impacting work with infectious agents and materials and safe methods for manipulating, studying, producing and containing infectious microorganisms and biological hazards.

The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines would not have been possible without years of research into similar viruses. Work done at the Advanced Photon Source between 2009 and 2013 led to an increase in effectiveness of several of the vaccines.

All in all, many aspects of Argonne have been making significant contributions to conquering COVID-19. For more information on how Argonne has contributed to bringing COVID-19 under control, go to www.anl.gov/news 