FROM THE LABS : TOSCANA LIFE SCIENCES
9:00 A . M . / The team checks in The group has doubled to 14 members since February as Sala added scientists with specialties in cell and virus biology . Sala huddles with immunologists Anna Kabanova and Emanuele Andreano and the biologists and data scientists to review the previous day ’ s results and discuss next steps .
Monoclonal antibodies are naturally produced by the human body , so Sala doesn ’ t have to go through the long approval process necessary for chemically made drugs . She hopes that will help the lab get the mAbs into clinical trials sooner and get the treatment to people faster . Eventually , the dream is to create an oral spray , but for now , she ’ s focused on delivering the mAbs through an intramuscular or subcutaneous injection that acts as a prophylactic to boost a patient ’ s immune system . The medication could be given to healthcare workers or essential workers before they head into hot spots .
While mAbs do offer protection , they usually only last two or three months , because unlike a vaccine , monoclonals don ’ t train the human immune system to respond on its own . Once the monoclonals leave the body , the protection is gone .
PIPETTES AND PRINTERS The HP D300e BioPrinter can pipette the 384 wells on a plate with samples in minutes , as opposed to hours by a lab assistant , below . A researcher adds samples to a well plate before placing it in an incubator , above .
11:00 A . M . / Isolating the antibodies Sala oversees the lab ’ s graduate and postgraduate students as they run experiments . Researchers can ’ t always stay six feet apart in the lab , so in addition to a lab coat and gloves , Sala also dons a face mask when she heads inside .
The first step in finding the right mAb is to analyze the blood of COVID-19 patients . Sala ’ s lab collected samples from local hospitals and isolated the memory B cells , the part of the immune system that produces antibodies , cultivating them in the lab .
To fight SARS-CoV-2 , the key Sala ’ s team needs to find is a mAb that attaches to the coronavirus ’ s S protein . That protein creates the coronavirus ’ s eponymous spiky membrane , and it allows the virus to bind to human ACE2 receptors commonly found in organs including the lungs , kidneys , intestines , and brain .
A mAb that disrupts that process will keep the virus from replicating and causing a serious infection , but it isn ’ t a vaccine . “ I would say they ’ re complementary ,” says Sala .
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