Award details

SARS-CoV-2 genetic diversity and stability in the presence of neutralising antibodies and antivirals

Reference	BB/V013874/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr DA Matthews
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor Andrew Davidson, Professor Adam Finn
Institution	University of Bristol
Department	Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	115,681
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	02/11/2020
End date	01/05/2021
Duration	6 months

Abstract

unavailable

Summary

We want to understand how the SARS-CoV-2 virus (which causes COVID-19) might mutate when it is placed under what is known as selective pressure. At the moment the virus is spreading around the globe and it is mutating relatively slowly. That is likely to be because nobody has any pre-existing immunity top the virus and we have limited effective drugs that target the virus and even the one drug we do have that targets the virus (Remdesivir) has not been widely used. Over time we anticipate that more and more people will become immune because they have had the virus or because they have had a vaccine. At the same time, we believe that drugs that directly target the virus will become available and more widely used. Once this happens the virus will find it harder to spread and cause serious disease and when that happens it is possible that the virus will begin to accumulate mutations that will help it to evade the drugs we have developed and the vaccines we have deployed. This project will recreate that kind of evolutionary pressure in the laboratory so we can understand what kinds of mutations might emerge or even if the virus is actually unable to mutate and that the vaccines being planned and the antiviral drugs being evaluated will be effective over many years.

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Immunology, Microbiology
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Covid19 Rapid Response [2020]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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