Verification project of SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests receives funding from Swelife

Photo: Mattias Bronge, Karolinska Institutet

A validation project of new SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests, headed by Associate Professor Anna Fogdell-Hahn is supported with SEK 4 157 000 from Swelife, a strategic innovation programme, funded by the Swedish Government via the Swedish innovation agency, Vinnova, and by the programme’s partners.

The project started as a response to the pandemic at CMM in the lab of Anna Fogdell-Hahn’s Group and it will continue until June 2021. Anna has a long experience in studying antibody responses against biological  drugs (so called anti-drug antibodies), a side effect of biopharmaceutical treatments used for instance in patients with autoimmune diseases. Another research focus is the involvement of virus infections in autoimmune diseases. Both areas of technical expertise are useful in the context of SARS-CoV-2 serology, so Anna and her research Group re-structured their lab in order to start a project and contribute to fighting the Pandemic.

This funded project provides an independent verification of the sensitivity and specificity of commercial SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests , as a complement to other validation methods. In this way, the process can be accelerated and the tests become available on the market faster. This will contribute to facilitate larger scale SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests on the whole population without increasing the burden of the public health care system. The project also makes a long-term study of immunity to SARS-CoV-2 possible by following up the patients who tested positive for antibodies.

An interview with Anna Fogdell-Hahn and a more detailed description of the project can be found in Swedish on the Swelife website:

https://swelife.se/2020/07/31/nytt-projekt-verifierar-serologitester/

https://swelife.se/projekt/antikroppar-mot-sars-cov-2/