InTouch with Southern Kentucky June 2020 | Page 19

“The answers will be important for our state officials to
determine how to handle this virus moving forward.”
Cohen and Jerry Woodward, both faculty in the
College of Medicine’s department of Microbiology,
Immunology and Molecular Genetics, run the FCIM lab,
which is one of the university’s core research facilities.
FCIM has state-of-the-art equipment used for analysis
of immune cells that is available to the UK research
community.
Thanks to early coordination by Woodward, UK
was among the first universities in the U.S. to create
COVID-19 antibody tests using the virus’ DNA to make
the necessary protein.
When developing an antibody test, also known as an
“ELISA assay,” researchers must produce a part of the
virus that antibodies in the patient’s blood will recognize.
For SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses, it’s the
spike protein – the part of the virus that binds to cells.
In March, Woodward was able to obtain the DNA vector
necessary to produce the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein
from the lab of Florian Krammer with the Icahn School
of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Then a team
in UK’s biochemistry department working in the UK
Protein Core – including Matthew Gentry, Craig Vander
Kooi, Louis Hersh and Martin Chow – produced those
proteins from the DNA vector, allowing UK labs to get
their own tests up and running quickly.
In addition to the FCIM test, assays were developed in
the labs of Vincent Venditto in the College of Pharmacy
and Jennifer Moylan with UK’s Center for Clinical and
Translational Science (CCTS). The labs obtained blood
samples from COVID-19 patients and normal healthy
controls from multiple UK sources including the CCTS
Biobank and the Markey Cancer Center Biospecimen
Core.
Woodward says the Biobank samples were particularly
important because they provided the team with
samples of serum collected before the COVID-19 outbreak
began. This allowed them to determine the “false
positive” detection rate of the tests.
“The ELISA assays developed by all three groups
accurately identify the antibodies in blood samples
donated from recovered COVID-19 patients, but no
antibodies were detected in blood samples from pre-
COVID-19 patients,” said Woodward. “Importantly, these
assays are more specific and accurate than many rapid
antibody tests now being used in the U.S.”
The team is now in discussion with some of the clinical
researchers at UK to develop clinical trials that will
follow immunity to COVID-19 in a cohort of patients.
Cumberland Nursing and Rehab
Short-Term Rehab to Home
Features & Services
• Private room
• Planned discharge to home with our Social Worker
• IV Therapy
• Antibiotic Therapy
• Wound Care Management
200 Norfleet Drive
Somerset, KY 42501
phone [phone]
fax [phone]
facebook.com/
cumberlandnursingandrehabilitation
CumberlandNursingAnd
Rehabilitation.com
• CPAP
• BiPAP
• Wound Vac
• Post-Op Recovery
• Extra-large Rehab Gym featuring Physical Therapy,
Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy
We also have a Sunroom for private private gatherings; birthdays, holidays, or just to enjoy the family.
June 2020 In Touch with Southern Kentucky • 19