![]() A drop of a patient's plasma sample is put onto a slide that also has spike proteins specific to each variant of SARS-CoV-2 at different locations. The test uses part of the virus's spike protein and fluorescently labeled human ACE2 proteins to measure the ability of a patient's neutralizing antibodies to block interactions between the virus and ACE2 proteins. Live virus assays are also labor-intensive and expensive, the researchers wrote in the paper. Rather than using live virus, the test uses recombinant proteins, which makes it easier to see the differences between variants by using different proteins, and lessens the turnaround time, according to Heggestad. Jake Heggestad, a graduate student in the department of biomedical engineering at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering and a member of Ashutosh Chilkoti's lab, noted that the team designed the test to mimic more common antibody assays that use live viruses. ![]() In a paper published in Science Advances earlier this month, the researchers laid out how their CoVariant-SCAN test works and how it can determine the ability of someone's antibodies to neutralize spike proteins from different variants. Notably, the point-of-care test could tell clinicians if, and how well, a patient's neutralizing antibodies, obtained from vaccination or natural infection, can fight against each specific variant of the virus, indicating if a vaccine is effective against a certain variant. NEW YORK – As the Omicron variant puts the world on edge, researchers from Duke University have unveiled a variant-specific test to assess a person's level of protection from antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. ![]()
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