U of T research team develops new test to detect immunity against COVID-19 variants

A new test that measures COVID-19 antibodies developed by a team of University of Toronto researchers could be vital in saving lives and determining how and when booster shots should be distributed amid concerns over a new wave.

The team of researchers conducted a study which used the test to calculate the total antibodies that a person generates after vaccination or after infection.

The test, called Neu-SATiN, which stands for Neutralization Serological Assay, computes the number of neutralizing antibodies one has in the immune system.

“When we talk about infections with new variants, these neutralizing antibodies will bind to the surface of the virus and will prevent the binding of the virus to the target cells and will thus prevent new infections,” said researcher and U of T Professor Igor Stagljar.

“The beauty of this new test that we developed is that it can measure and quantify, in less than one hour, the exact number of neutralizing antibodies a person has in the body after the infection or vaccination.”

The research shows this antibody test could become a valuable tool in deciding who needs a booster, saving lives and avoiding future lockdowns.

“I think it would be imperative to know the amount of neutralizing antibodies you have if a new variant comes this fall or winter, and this can be done very easily with our tests,” said Stagljar.

Researchers are currently working on the next steps to have it accessible to the public.

“We are ready to go. We will have to find the manufacturer who would produce these reagents, and they would have to be of a certain standard. And we would then take these reagents, collect people’s blood, and test them in a short time, and we could have the results in one hour,” shared Stagljar, adding that it’s faster than any test on the market.

“We can test more than 100,000 samples a week basically because it’s automized, and robotized tests can be done on a large population in a very short time,” said Stagljar.

“It’s very fast, it’s accurate, and it’s cheap. It costs less than $3.”

He added they are currently negotiating the licensing of the test.

“We are negotiating to license our new test to a company which will then scale it up so that it can be tested for population immunosurveillance and in the pharmaceutical industry for vaccine development,” explained Stagljar.

They are also collaborating with the Canadian vaccine manufacturer, Medicago, to help determine the efficacy of their vaccine candidates against Omicron and its subvariants.

Stagljar says he hopes to have the test hit the market by the fall.

“We are working very hard to complete this licensing and manufacturing, but I would like to see this test available on the market in the fall and winter when it will be really important for the Canadian population to get tested.”

Canada’s chief public health officer, Theresa Tam, says circulating Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are even more transmissible and can evade immunity more quickly than previous versions, making a rise in cases likely in the coming weeks.

Ontario’s pandemic advisory group says the variant BA.5 likely already makes up half of the province’s COVID-19 cases.