Congratulations to Patrick Wilson, PhD, MS, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Interim), on being awarded a grant to develop a universal coronavirus vaccine as part of the PanCoVac - Pan-coronavirus Vaccine Consortium. The PanCoVac consortium brings together researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine, University of Wisconsin, and the University of Chicago to develop a vaccine candidate that provides universal protection from all coronavirus strains, including common coronavirus variants.
As part of the consortium, Dr. Wilson and his team at Weill Cornell Medicine will analyze SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses and isolate human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), from the B cells of COVID-19 patients, that bind to and protect against the virus. His team will also isolate antibodies that react to both SARS-CoV-2 and other coronavirus strains such as mutational variants, like the Delta variant, and now, Omicron, etc., and zoonotic coronaviruses that are a pandemic risk (i.e., other bat coronaviruses), as well as strains that cause common colds.
Dr. Wilson will work in collaboration with Yoshi Kawaoka, PhD, of University of Wisconsin and Andrzej Joachimiac, PhD, Dsc, of University of Chicago to then characterize the isolated mAbs for activity against the various coronavirus strains to determine which can be used in designing a vaccine candidate.