Bio-Techne, Carterra In Clinical Research Collaboration To Study COVID-19 Variants - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Life sciences company Bio-Techne (TECH) and Carterra Inc. announced Wednesday a clinical research collaboration studying COVID-19 variants. New variants, such as Delta, can be more easily transmitted and more likely to evade the immune response of vaccinated or previously infected people.

To assess immune responses to new variants and to plan for intervention mechanisms that avoid vaccine escape, scientists and epidemiologists need a fast and effective assay.

The partnership leverages Carterra's flagship LSA analytical platform to characterize panels of SARS-CoV-2 spike and receptor-binding domain (RBD) variants in an information-rich assay. Carterra's LSA instrument is the fastest, most sensitive and flexible biosensor platform on the market.

The SARS-CoV-2 variants were developed by Bio-Techne and used to fast-track the new, scalable assay for measuring the potential risks that new variants may evade the ability of the immune system to block the virus.

Bio-Techne and Carterra will focus this collaboration on more than 40 variants, including the Delta variant that is prevalent today, and emerging variants as they are discovered.

The Carterra LSA will be used to generate high-definition insights with over 120 data points from patient serum samples, including a variant profile, ACE-2 blocking potential, and isotyping profiles of immunoglobin response.