ISLAMABAD, August 18 (online): James Hindley, Ph.D, explains how his company is developing a new T cell test during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also reveals why this test is a much-needed tool for those designing new vaccines and studying immune responses to the new corona virus.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, scientists across disciplines and geographical locations have collaborated in unprecedented ways.
The speed at which diagnostic tests went from conception to reality was astounding, as were the global efforts to test new and repurposed drugs to find treatments for those with the disease.
However, effective treatments are only tentatively emerging. Diagnostic testing capabilities have been slow to ramp up to the scales needed to keep the pandemic at bay.
Many questions remain about how the virus causes catastrophic deterioration in some but leaves many others relatively unscathed.
These are an undoubtedly important part of our memory immune response to viruses. However, another critical component of our immune response to viruses is the T cell. These also provide memory immune responses and may even be more sensitive than antibodies.
The challenge with T cells is that, unlike antibodies, measuring them is not simple.
As such, there is a need for a simple T cell test, that could enable testing for virus-specific T cells to be done routinely.
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