Technological Innovation Platform for Health Emergencies

• Grant number: 21/11946-9
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Science Centers for Development
• Start date: June 01, 2022
• End date: May 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Public Health
• Principal Investigator: Durvanei Augusto Maria
• Grantee: Durvanei Augusto Maria
• Host Institution: Instituto Butantan. Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Pesquisadores principais:( Atuais ): Gisele Picolo ; Soraia Attie Calil Jorge ; Viviane Fongaro Botosso
• Pesquisadores principais:( Anteriores ): Renato Mancini Astray
• Associated researchers: Ana Marisa Chudzinski-Tavassi ; Carla Cristina Squaiella ; Carla Lilian de Agostini Utescher ; Carlos Deocesano-Pereira ; Celso Raúl Romero Ramos ; Cristiano Gonçalves Pereira ; Denise Cristina Andre Oliveira ; Denise Vilarinho Tambourgi ; Diego Grando Módolo ; Elizabeth Angelica Leme Martins ; Eutimio Gustavo Fernández Núñez ; Fernanda Faria ; Flavio Lichtenstein ; Giselle Pidde Marques Porto ; Hugo Vigerelli de Barros ; Irina Kerkis ; Isabel Maria Vicente Guedes de Carvalho Mello ; Isadora Maria Villas Boas Silva ; Marcelo Medina de Souza ; Mauricio Barbugiani Goldfeder ; Miryam Paola Alvarez Flores ; Neuza Maria Frazatti Gallina ; Regis Edgar Castilho Junior ; Renato Mancini Astray ; Mirta Ana Schattner ; Sonia Aparecida de Andrade Chudzinski ; Thatiana Corrêa de Melo ; Vanessa Olzon Zambelli ; Wagner Quintilio
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/08272-4 - Virus biobank implementation and development of a computer system to control the storage, identification, and reporting of virus samples, BP.PD; 24/06260-9 - Evaluation of the mechanisms of humoral and cellular immunity in response to vaccines and antiviral drugs., BP.PD; 24/04024-6 - Establishment of a Rapid Response Platform for the production of SARS-CoV-2 VLPs, BP.PD; 23/14700-6 - Development of a serological test for COVID-19 using flow cytometry., BP.TT; 22/12882-7 - Characterization of neural and inflammatory cell cultures for the study of viral infections that affect the central nervous system., BP.TT

Abstract

The Butantan Institute is strongly committed to public health and, therefore, to actions related to combating COVID-19. The sectors or centers of the Butantan Institute, namely the Development and Innovation Center, the Scientific Development Center, the Bioindustrial Development Center and the Cultural Development Center, came together to develop projects to fight the pandemic. Considering the institution's long trajectory in the production of hyperimmune sera and available infrastructure, the heterologous serum was developed as a quick response to the pandemic to save lives. This product was developed in one year, and the clinical test was approved by ANVISA. This project faced important difficulties related to the lack of laboratory structure for handling risk class 3 pathogens (NB-3). The institution has NB-3 infrastructure dedicated to the production of the Influenza vaccine, but the annual schedule makes it impossible to carry out project development activities involving other pathogens. In addition, the pandemic made evident the need for us to be prepared to develop competitive technologies. We have, in the institution, laboratories that are being structured to give quick answers through contemporary methodologies, but that need adaptations for some activities. Specifically, concerning microorganisms with NB-3 security level, as is the case of SARS-CoV-2, we need adaptation for more comprehensive studies such as: for virus isolation from biological samples, viral replication, proof of concept assays, preclinical testing, viral inactivation, among other essential activities for understanding the disease and developing new products. The project proposed here aims to strengthen and accelerate technological innovation platforms at the Butantan Institute, prepared to develop competitive technologies for the development of immunobiologicals and immunodiagnostic tests, capable of providing rapid responses to emerging viral diseases, using SARS-CoV- 2 as a model. These platforms also include the implementation of in vitro and in vivo models to carry out challenge assays, the discovery and modulation of cellular targets, from robust models that allow their validation and enable the understanding of the disease, as well as providing the design of new therapeutic agents. Although the COVID-19 pandemic is apparently entering a slowdown phase, much still needs to be done to bring it under control. The initial efforts of these new platforms will be focused on combating SARS-CoV-2, but with the view that they serve as a model for the rapid confrontation of new emerging viral diseases, as well as incremental innovations in existing immunobiologicals. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BOTOSSO, VIVIANE FONGARO; DURIGON, EDISON LUIZ; DE SOUZA, EDMARCIA ELISA. Emerging human viruses with pandemic potential: Diagnostics, pathogenesis, and therapeutics. FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR AND INFECTION MICROBIOLOGY, v. 13, p. 2-pg., 2023-03-23. (20/12277-0, 21/11946-9, 15/26722-8)