Biosafety grades are classified from 1 to 4, with 1 being the lowest and four being the highest. The levels describe the equipment and protection protocols required based on the spread of pathogens and the treatments that must be taken.
“As far as we know, we are the first in the country to get permission to paint with this weakened edition of the virus on BSL-2,” says Dr. Martinez-Sobrido. “This makes it safer for our researchers to paint with the virus and we will work faster to find antivirals and other remedies for COVID-19, and we will continue to work to use this weakened virus as a live attenuated vaccine candidate.
A live attenuated vaccine relies on weakened editing of the virus to stimulate the body’s immune formula and create antibodies and cellular responses opposed to the virus. Live attenuated vaccines are used against influenza, smallpox, chickenpox, yellow fever, and measles, mumps. and rubella.
Dr. Martinez-Sobrido and his team created an attenuated strain of SARS-CoV-2 that lacks two pieces of its genetic code that would normally produce two proteins, employing opposing genetic approaches they developed. The virus can still survive, but it has a lot of discomfort to replicate and does not cause serious illness. In two rodent models, golden Syrian hamsters and transgenic mice, the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 is thought to have caused fatal weight loss, but this weakened edition does not cause serious weight loss or death. The attenuated virus has been conscientiously designed and very well tested, looking like it is about to evolve and return to its original form.
“Our studies show that the suppression of those two proteins has necessarily paralyzed the virus, so it’s still alive, but it no longer poses a threat,” says Chengjin Ye, Ph. D. , a staff scientist at Texas Biomed and the first of the paper. “That’s why we can now paint with it safely in BSL-2 labs. “
The team plans to use the attenuated virus to further examine the pathogen, expand vaccines, and evaluate antiviral drugs as part of its collaboration with several NIH Centers for Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) for fear pathogens in the event of a pandemic. Recently, researchers are discovering the fluorescent bureaucracy of the attenuated virus that will be used in BSL-2 to examine large and complex libraries of compounds to identify those of the virus.
“We and our collaborators can now safely and seamlessly conduct high-throughput detection of thousands of compounds in BSL-2, and when we restrict ourselves to a handful of the most promising candidates, we can compare them to the actual virus in BSL-3,” says Dr. Martinez-Sobrido. “This will speed up the drug discovery process. “
Texas Biomed underwent an internal and external review, before receiving approval for the paints on sarS-CoV-2 attenuated in BSL-2.
“After several rounds of comprehensive reviews through the Institutional Bioprotection Committee, we are confident that attenuated SARS-CoV-2 generated through Dr. Martinez-Soberdo’s lab can be safely performed on BSL-2,” said Anthony Wang, Ph. D. , director of fitness and environmental protection at Texas Biomed.
“For everyone’s safety, NIH-OSP conscientiously considers all requests to decrease the biosecurity point. NIH-OSP’s immediate change in granting the application is a demonstration of the close collaboration between Texas Biomed researchers, safety professionals and regulators. “
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