Coronaviruses roadmap:
Diagnostic Tests
Roadmap for the development of diagnostic tests for coronaviruses
Download 202410 Draft Coronavirus Diagnostic Development_Final8
Characterisation
Characterisation
Research Question
- Genetic/biological characterisation of major coronaviruses impacting animal health and/or having zoonotic concerns
Research Gaps and Challenges
- 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
Solution Routes
- 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
Dependencies
- Virus isolates
- Standardised animal models to characterise virus
- Interface transmission models
- Genomic surveillance in multiple hosts and even different sites within the same host
Projects
What activities are planned or underway?
Differential susceptibility of SARS-CoV-2 in animals : Evidence of ACE2 host receptor distribution in companion animals, livestock and wildlife by immunohistochemical characterisation
Planned Completion date 26/07/2021
Participating Country(s):
Netherlands
Veterinary Biocontained facility Network for excellence in animal infectiology research and experimentation
Planned Completion date 28/02/2023
Participating Country(s):
Europe