Grant: Alliance Grants

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for reliable, accurate and cheap diagnostic tests to determine the extent of exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the causative agent of COVID-19. In particular, serological testing can identify on an individual basis who has been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and monitor immunological response to vaccination in the Canadian population. A key requirement in developing serological tests is the need for SARS-CoV-2 protein (or antigen) that is immunologically reactive with human antibodies. The goal of the partnership between The University of Western Ontario, Lambton College, Suncor Energy, Lumivi and Pond Technologies is to develop a scalable orthogonal protein-production system for COVID-19 antigens in the microalage, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, for diagnostic purposes and for use in basic science investigations of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Current protein production systems for COVID-19 antigen are expensive and difficult to scale to meet the requirements of population-level testing, or cannot produce the antigens in an immunologically reactive form. Phaeodactylum tricornutum is a genetically tractable organism, grows in a simple, cheap and defined media (essentially seawater and sunlight), and is currently cultivated in very large volumes for harvesting of bioproducts for human consumption. Coupled with the finding that Phaeodactylum tricornutum can produce proteins that are recognized by the human immune system, these characteristics make it an excellent orthogonal platform for the production of COVID-19 antigens. There is a good chance that SARS-CoV-2 will be a continual threat for years and that it will mutate. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 immunity tends not to be long-lasting, and eradication will require long-term contact tracing and multiple exposure monitoring worldwide by serological testing. The Phaeodactylum tricornutum production system we are proposing will be rapidly modifiable and scalable to respond to these eventualities, and to the emergence of other viral pandemic outbreaks.