Gladstone Institutes Responds to COVID-19 Pandemic

SAN FRANCISCO, March 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gladstone scientists have rapidly pivoted the focus of their research labs to the novel virus, SARS-CoV-2. Specifically, they are leveraging their established tools, unique infrastructure, and diverse expertise in virology to develop improved diagnostics, identify targeted treatment strategies, and invent preventative approaches. Gladstone scientists were instrumental in converting HIV/AIDS from a uniformly lethal disease into a chronic condition, and are now bringing the same urgency and focus to combatting COVID-19 in a comprehensive manner. A few examples are detailed below.

    --  DIAGNOSTICS--Jennifer Doudna, PhD, co-inventor of CRISPR technology, and
        virologist Melanie Ott, MD, PhD, are collaborating to develop a
        CRISPR-based method to rapidly measure COVID-19 RNA. By combining the
        technique with iPhone technology, they aim to develop a diagnostic that
        could deliver rapid results and be widely deployed even far from
        traditional labs, such as in airports and other ports of entry, and in
        remote communities throughout the world.


    --  TREATMENT--Nevan Krogan, PhD, has discovered all of the human host cell
        proteins that the virus interacts with to hijack the cell's machinery.
        These proteins serve as novel targets for drug therapies. Since the high
        fatality rate is driven by respiratory and cardiac failure, Melanie Ott,
        Bruce Conklin, MD, and Todd McDevitt, PhD, will test effects of the
        virus and drug candidates in human lung "organoids" and human heart
        cells, both developed from human stem cells. Virologist Warner Greene,
        MD, PhD, is reconfiguring an HIV entry/fusion assay to study entry
        mediated by the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. His team will screen a
        library of FDA-approved drugs to identify those that could be rapidly
        repurposed as a treatment for COVID-19 patients or even as a preventive
        for high risk-groups. The assay could also be used to select the best
        plasma samples donated by people who have recovered from COVID-19 for
        infusion into seriously ill patients.
    --  PREVENTION--Leor Weinberger, PhD, has pioneered an innovative approach
        to fighting the spread of viral pathogens called therapeutic interfering
        particles (TIPs), which could be an alternative to a vaccine. TIPs are
        defective viral particles that mimic the virus but are ineffective in
        replicating. They turn the tables on the virus by hijacking its
        machinery to transform virus-infected cells into factories that produce
        even more therapeutic particles, amplifying the effect of TIPs in
        stopping the spread of virus. TIPs targeting COVID-19 would transmit
        along the same paths as the virus itself, and thus provide protection to
        even the most vulnerable populations.

This work is made possible in part because Gladstone has biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) facilities on-site, which are now dedicated to work on COVID-19. The BSL-3 research will be overseen by Melanie Ott, in partnership with UC San Francisco and its Institutional Biosafety Committee and Director of High Containment Laboratories.

About the Gladstone Institutes

To ensure our work does the greatest good, Gladstone Institutes focuses on conditions with profound medical, economic, and social impact--unsolved diseases. Gladstone is an independent, nonprofit life science research organization that uses visionary science and technology to overcome disease. It has an academic affiliation with the University of California, San Francisco.

Media Contact: Megan McDevitt | VP Communications | megan.mcdevitt@gladstone.org | 415.734.2019
1650 Owens Street, San Francisco, CA 94158 | gladstone.org | @GladstoneInst

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SOURCE Gladstone Institutes