Phage for the specific capture of the SARS-CoV-2 virus

Thematic area	Health
Ownership	ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA' DI BOLOGNA, UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI MESSINA
Inventors	Luca Prodi, Alberto Danielli, Matteo Calvaresi, SALVATORE GUGLIELMINO, Sabrina Conoci, Marco Sebastiano Nicolò, Nicoletta Palermo, Emanuele Luigi Sciuto, Maria Giovanna Rizzo
Protection	Italy (opportunity for seeking patent protection internationally)
Licensing status	Available for development agreements, options, licenses, and other valorization agreements.
Keywords	Phage display, biopanning, pVIII, Virus, SARS-CoV-2, Covid-19, in-vitro diagnostics, pathogens
Filed on	30 September 2022

The 2019 coronavirus, named SARS-CoV-2, which causes the respiratory disease called COVID-19, has spread rapidly on a global scale. In comparison to the SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV coronaviruses, which have caused previous outbreaks of respiratory syndrome, the new virus SARS-CoV-2 is highly contagious with high transmissibility even in patients with mild symptoms. The COVID-19 disease caused by the virus has spread rapidly, and there is therefore an urgent need for effective and rapid diagnostics to detect the infection.

The invention consists in the engineering, using the phage display technique, of an M13 phage for the specific capture of the SARS-Cov-2 virus

Direct applications: Specific capture of COVID-19 for rapid molecular test to be used for massive population screening.

Indirect applications: Spry for specific capture and concentration of COVID-19 on surfaces for subsequent sanitization.

Benefits:

• Specific capture of COVID;

• Concentration of COVID virions in a real sample for subsequent detection;

• High specificity: captures between 30 and 60 SARS-CoV-2 virions similar to what was detected with RT-PCR techniques (500 copies / ml);

• Versatile methodology applicable to different detection methods.