In March 2020, Canada had no hope of containing the emerging COVID-19 pandemic without developing the domestic capability to produce testing kits on a massive scale. Unfortunately, the task of sourcing and combining distinct components to create an accurate test presented a daunting set of challenges. Not long after the outbreak of the pandemic, headlines began to ring the alarm bell about faulty tests.
Dr. Martin Schmeing, the Director of the 海角社区 Centre for Structural Biology and a professor of Biochemistry in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, quickly formed a 海角社区 team to create a Made-in-Canada COVID-19 test that Canadians could trust. With funding from the Science Opportunities Fund in the Faculty of Science, 海角社区 Health Centre (MUHC), and 海角社区 Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4), the team got to work.
Dr. Nathan Luedtke and Dr. Maureen McKeague, both professors in the Department of Chemistry, eagerly accepted the challenge of creating testing components that work in harmony with one another. 鈥淭he most sensitive and accurate SARS-CoV-2 tests have many critical components that must be well-matched to work,鈥� explained Dr. Luedtke. 鈥淵ou can look at the DNA probes and PCR primers as the brain of the test. Just like you need the right brain in the right body, you need the right match between the probes and primers and the enzymatic 鈥渕aster mix鈥� for the test to work. The combination gives you the fluorescent indication that the virus is present.鈥�
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of testing centres discovered that their probes and primers were incompatible with their master mixes. 鈥淲hat was happening was that testing facilities were purchasing the components from different sources, and some combinations weren鈥檛 working,鈥� said Dr. Luedtke. 鈥淚f the probes and primers are not well matched to the master mix, you may get a false negative. If there is contamination, you end up with a false positive.鈥�
As Dr. Luedtke, Dr. McKeague, and their fellow nucleic acids experts began to create correctional probes and primers, they discovered that their colleague in the Department of Chemistry, Dr. Masad Damha, was pursuing a similar line of research in response to a need for probes and primers at the MUHC. The groups decided to combine efforts. At that moment they also contacted Dean Lennox to tell them of their shared research plan and what they thought they could achieve if some seed funding was available. Dean Lennox knows all three members of this new team 鈥� truly a 鈥榙ream team鈥� - and knows that their collaboration could be game-changing. Dean Lennox recalls that it 鈥渢ook 90 seconds- no, probably 45 seconds- to put $50K on the table for these researchers鈥� immediate use鈥�. He notes that he was able to react so quickly and at such a significant level because he knew that the Science Opportunities Fund gave him the agility to do so.
鈥淥ur efforts are still ongoing, but we have made substantial progress,鈥� said Dr. McKeague. She contributed a new nucleic acid component to the master mix, which the team is working to integrate with the more sensitive probes and primers sets they have already designed. Recently, they created a SARS-CoV-2 test with a backup probe and primer set that lights up a second colour. 鈥淭here are two different fluorescent colours now, so that if one fails, the other one still works,鈥� explained Dr. Luedtke. Health Canada has shown a strong interest in this redundancy and has requested two additional colours to indicate influenza A and B in the same test. Currently, the team is in the process of negotiating industrial-scale production of the testing kit.
Support from the Science Opportunities Fund has played an instrumental role in catalyzing the research efforts of the 海角社区 team. 鈥淭hese days, researchers are vying for large amounts of public money, and there are inefficient and sometimes political aspects to how it is distributed,鈥� said Dr. Luedtke. Months after the outbreak of the pandemic, many of the research grants he and Dr. McKeague have applied for have yet to respond. 鈥淗aving quick, guaranteed funding streams from the Faculties of Medicine and Science allowed us to bypass the typical process and quickly respond to a critical need,鈥� Dr. McKeague expressed. 鈥淭hanks to the Science Opportunities Fund, we have an opportunity to contribute to a solution in a difficult time.鈥�