Roadmap for the development of diagnostic tests for coronaviruses

Characterisation

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Characterisation

Research Question

Genetic/biological characterisation of major coronaviruses impacting animal health and/or having zoonotic concerns

Characterise determinants of high vs low virulence
Characterisation of and host range host/issue tropism
Characterisation of the antigenic properties
General genetic similarity between many coronavirus lineages, therefore sequencing is needed for species identification
What features characterise new variants of concern?
Lack of standardised tools for basic biological characterisation
Lack of adequate cell lines for isolation and characterisation
Characterisation of major drivers for virus jumping into new species of hosts
Understanding the effect (if any) of propagating viruses in cell lines / organoids on the phenotype of the virus

Somatic Mutagenesis (ISA)- to rescue synthetic viruses
Loss of function experiments by reverse genetics strategies
Study virus transmission across human/animal interface and animal/animal interface
Development of models to predict epitopes based on S sequence evolution
Improve ex vivo, in vitro and organoids characterization of new viral isolates

Virus isolates
Standardised animal models to characterise virus
Interface transmission models
Genomic surveillance in multiple hosts and even different sites within the same host