🚨New study: We tested if antibodies from previously infected and vaccinated individuals can neutralize ancestral #SARSCoV2, #beta, #delta, and #omicron variants.

(1/7) Short thread on what we found.
biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

#COVID19 @VIDO #LZCI
(2/7) We isolated variants of concern (VOCs) from clinical specimen and sequenced them to confirm their whole genome sequences. We used these viruses to test antibody levels in serum from infected and vaccinated individuals.
(3/7) Important – infection with ancestral SARS-CoV-2 or delta variant alone does not induce high levels of neutralizing antibodies against omicron. But..
(4/7) the good thing is that if you receive two doses of the vaccine, your antibody levels will be much higher against omicron. So go get those shots if you are eligible! #CovidVaccine
(5/7) finally, three doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine induces detectable levels of neutralizing antibodies against #omicron in serum samples from long-term care residents, but still lower than levels seen against ancestral virus. So, what does this all mean?
(6/7) It is critical that we determine correlates of protection against severe #COVID19 to inform future vaccine booster strategies. New variants will likely emerge, and we need a coordinated system in place to rapidly assess threats from these variants.
(7/7) For now, go get your #vaccines and hang in there!
Grateful for help from trainees, staff and colleagues @VIDOInterVac @Sunnybrook @UofT @DalhousieU @usask @SinaiHealth. Support from @CIHR_IRSC @CoVaRR_Net @VIDOInterVac @InnovationCA and others.

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More from @sci_questions

26 Apr 21
Our latest study to understand the dynamic regulation of #interferon (#IFN) and #SARSCoV2 infection.

🧵summarizing what we found and what needs to be done to understand the dynamic interplay of infection and #IFN regulation. @iScience_CP #COVID19

cell.com/iscience/fullt…
We infected human airway cells (Calu3) with #SARSCoV2, and performed a time-series #RNAseq analysis to discover global transcriptional responses. We saw expression of #IFN (beta and lambda) and IFN stimulated genes in these cells.
Here is what #SARSCoV2 infection looks like in #Calu3 (human lung epithelial cells) cells.
Read 17 tweets
24 Apr 21
I remember the mass graves in #NewYork last year where #COVID went through the population devastating families and friends. Mass cremation is ongoing in India. We need to understand the situation and empathize.
telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…
They are not numbers. They are uncles, aunts, mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, best friends... #CovidIndia

For most, they have nowhere to go, no funds to lobby. Simple people facing extraordinary choices between working and putting food on the table OR dying of #COVID19.
How can we help as individuals? Be kind and help each other. We are all fighting the same battle, but some of us have a better arsenal. I feel helpless as I watch in horror the events unfolding in my birth country. Stay strong #India. This too shall pass. 🤞
Read 4 tweets
13 Feb 21
Do you wonder if #SARSCoV2 came from an animal or a lab?

I finally had the time to read this paper. I shall discuss in this thread observations relevant for virus emergence and why this work further discredits the lab origin theory. #COVID

nature.com/articles/s4146…
1. Bats were collected from an irrigation pipe in Thailand. So, if you think that bats with SARS-related #coronaviruses only exist in remote caves, then you are wrong. Like most wildlife, bats can also cover long distances.
2. Coronavirus detected in Rhinolophus acuminatus in this study are evolutionary closely related to #SARSCoV2 and other SARS2-related coronaviruses detected in bats.
Read 5 tweets
2 Jan 21
When were the first human #coronaviruses (CoVs) discovered and studied?

How were these viruses associated with human #disease?

It's time to learn our history about human CoVs, and the scientists and volunteers that allowed us to identify this new group of viruses.

A THREAD.
Mid-sixties: HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43 were identified.
1. Hamre et al. (1966)
2. McIntosh et al. (1967)
3. Tyrrell et al. (1965).

Image: Tyrrell et al. (1965).
Healthy HUMAN volunteers were infected to demonstrate that 229E and OC43 resulted in a common cold.

1. Bradburne et al. (1967, 1972)
2. Hamre et al. (1966)

Image: Bradburne et al. (1967)
Read 7 tweets
25 Dec 20
I have received questions about how #viruses (eg. #SARSCoV2) jump species to move from animals (eg. bats) into humans. While it may seem like a simple process, a multitude of factors have to align to allow a #virus to successfully cross the species barrier.
A THREAD...
. @rainamontana's review from 2017 is a great explainer of the complexity of this process: nature.com/articles/nrmic…
Several factors (represented in this figure by holes) have to align to enable a virus to jump species.
As far as #SARSCoV2 is concerned, while data supports a bat origin for the virus, the transmission route of the virus (how did the virus makes its way from bats into humans?) remains unknown. For a scientific explanation, read our forum article here: cell.com/trends/ecology…
Read 4 tweets
20 Dec 20
The mutation in the spike protein of circulating #SARSCoV2 has been the focus of many stories over the last couple of days. We and others have shown that coronaviruses exist as mixed populations (quasispecies) in a host.. here’s what we know.
A THREAD..
#mutantcovid
We showed that MERSCoV can select for different variants in cells from an alternate host (I.e. bats): nature.com/articles/s4159…
So, what we realized is that the virus itself doesn’t actively change, but the major represented population does, based on selection pressure. So what does that mean?...
Read 10 tweets

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