Thread by @DrEricDing

Not too shabby: “Within a week of receiving a blood sample from a U.S. patient who recovered from #COVID19, a Canadian antibody company identified more than 500 unique fully human antibody sequences, the largest panel of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies to date.
genengnews.com/news/to-develo…

2) They will “assess those antibodies, and find those with the greatest potential against COVID-19 by identifying antibodies that bind the pandemic strain of SARS-CoV-2 the best.” The research platform for discovery was originally funded by @DARPA. #COVID19

3) “We are about to find out very quickly which ones of those 500 will be effective neutralizers. We will have that data very quickly, and that will help us down-select a number to develop for further manufacturing and further testing.” #COVID19

4) Taxpayer money - via @DARPA Pandemic Prevention Program funded the 4-year $30 mil - helped establish a robust technology platform for pandemic response capable of developing field-ready medical countermeasures within 60 days of isolation of an unknown viral pathogen. #COVID19

5) “Presently, our platform is the world’s best for antibody discovery.” The platform can take immune cells from essentially any source with a natural immune system, and isolate the B cells that make antibodies with the therapeutic properties of interest. #COVID19

6) “In a single day of screening, we can screen through millions of immune cells, and find the best antibodies that will then go on to be developed as therapeutics,” Falconer said. #COVID19

7) “A single nL volume effectively shrinks down a petri dish millions of times, and in a matter of 1hr, a single antibody secreting cell can build up enough concentration in that very tiny volume so that we can actually perform a number of tests for antibody properties.” #COVID19

8) Those tests include, individually or in combination:
📌Finding antibodies that bind a target expressed in its native conformation on a cell surface.
📌Finding antibodies that bind a specific antigen, and counter-screening against unwanted interactions.
#COVID19

9) 📌Screening for antibodies (ABs) that are cross-reactive for diff antigens or epitopes.
📌Enriching for ABs with high affinity for a single/multiple targets.
📌Screening for ABs that bind a target, differentiating receptor-ligand interactions such as ligand blocking. #COVID19

10) 📍BOTTOMLINE: Taxpayers have previously funded with just $30 mil from @DARPA Pandemic Prevention Program, a technology capable of developing 📌field-ready antibody countermeasures within 60 days of isolation of an unknown viral pathogen. Let’s hopefully get it soon!🧪#COVID19

11) LAY SUMMARY: First antibodies are proteins in your blood that exist in billions of random combinations on its surface in efforts that your body can make one that can “recognize” a foreign virus. Taking the blood of #COVID19 patient who recovered by themselves is smart cuz...

12) ...a survivor recovered patient likely has a successful antibody that can recognize the virus (which allows recruitment and amplification of your immune system). The trick is to now isolate this wonder antibody from the survivor’s blood 🩸- and that’s what this does. #COVID19

13) The technology first found 500 potential antibodies in which 1 could possibly be that magic ⭐️ antibody. The hard part is sorting thru them quickly enough to find which one it is. That’s that this tech does. And in 60 days or less! #COVID19

14) All in all, this technology offers hope that there is a way we can quickly find effective antibody that could directly treat #COVID19. (Read more on monoclonal antibody drugs en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoclona…). We don’t have a breakthru yet. But it’s promising.

15) To be clear - you are not transfusing one person’s blood to another. You’re isolating what is the successful antibody to then synthesize a treatment. Other companies are also pursuing this line of MAB drugs. statnews.com/2020/03/17/reg…