Shweta Kailasan, Author at IBT BioServices

Closing the gate on SARS-CoV-2: A VSV pseudotype neutralization assay targeting the key to viral entry

June 1, 2020
Shweta Kailasan
Assays and Protein Expression, R&D for Vaccines & Therapeutics
1 Comment

To address the urgent and immediate need for R&D tools for the fight against the public health threat from SARS-CoV-2, IBT Bioservices now offers a pseudotype virus system to assay inhibition of infectivity in a BSL-2 environment. Briefly, Vesicular Stomatitis virus (VSV) glycoprotein gene (G) has been substituted with SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein (rVSV pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 Spike). The recombinant rVSV-DG SARS-CoV-2 Spike has been incorporated into a convenient luciferase-based neutralization assay for evaluating the efficacy of drug candidates that target Spike-mediated infection (Figure 1). This system is similar to previously published and validated VSV pseudotype platform for Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus^1,2,3.

IBT Bioservices continues to conduct critical work as an essential business under the State of Maryland’s COVID-19 response directive. We have implemented a risk management plan and are continually monitoring the situation to ensure continuation of research according to public health services recommended best-practices for keeping our employees and the community safe.

Our workplace is adhering to social distancing guidelines to minimize the number of employees on-site by working on a staggered schedule.
We have eliminated any and all non-essential travel by our employees and visits to our facility and have adopted video conferencing for group meetings.
We are providing continual updates and responding to challenges, questions or concerns from employees, clients and collaborators as they arise.

The IBT Bioservices team will continue to deliver high quality products and services for every project. If you have any questions contact us at Services@IBTBioservices.com