cPass™, a simple test to detect whether someone has previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2, was jointly developed by Duke-NUS, A*STAR’s Diagnostics Development Hub (DxD) and global biotechnology group GenScript Biotech.
The test was a more impactful and faster alternative to existing antibody tests. It detects neutralising antibodies which clear SARS-CoV-2 viral infections by preventing coronavirus spike proteins from entering the host body’s cells.
Other SARS-CoV-2 tests simply detect the overall presence of antibodies — including those which do not necessarily block infections.
cPass also detects these SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies within an hour. Other kits and laboratory procedures can take several days to produce results as they have to be carried out in biosecure facilities by personnel specially trained to handle the live virus safely.
“The cPass developed by our team can be used for contact tracing, reservoir or intermediate animal tracking, assessment of herd immunity, longevity of protective immunity and efficacy of different vaccine candidates,” said Professor Wang Linfa, the principal investigator of this collaboration, in a media release issued today.
“It does not require a biosafety containment facility, which makes it immediately accessible to the global community, including many developing nations,” added Wang, who is also an emerging infectious diseases expert from Duke-NUS’ Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme.
In the same release, Ms Sherry Shao, President of the Life Science Group at GenScript, commented that “the collaboration with Duke-NUS is a key example of how global industry and academia work together to make things happen”.
Echoing her sentiments, Professor Thomas Coffman, Dean of Duke-NUS, added, “This innovative platform developed by our researchers will be extremely useful for quick and reliable surveillance to determine how widely a population has gained immunity to SARS-CoV-2. The partnership with GenScript and DxD Hub combines complementary strengths as we work together to fight this global outbreak.”