AMSBIO Launches Recombinant Proteins and Antibodies for Detection of Coronavirus (COVID-19)

AMS Biotechnology (AMSBIO; Abingdon, UK) has announced the availability of recombinant proteins and antibodies for the detection of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and related RNA viruses.

AMSBIO provides cutting-edge life science technology, products and services for research and development in the medical, nutrition, cosmetics and energy industries. The company has in-depth expertise in extracellular matrices to provide solutions for studying cell motility, migration, invasion and proliferation. This expertise in cell culture and the ECM allows AMSBIO to partner with clients in tailoring cell systems to enhance organoid and spheroid screening outcomes using a variety of 3D culture systems, including organ-on-a-chip microfluidics.

For drug discovery research, AMSBIO offers assays, recombinant proteins and cell lines. Drawing upon a huge and comprehensive biorepository, AMSBIO is widely recognized as a leading provider of high-quality tissue specimens (including custom procurement) from both human and animal tissues. The company provides unique clinical grade products for stem cell and cell therapy applications, including high quality solutions for viral delivery (lentivirus, adenovirus and adeno-associated virus), in addition to GMP cryopreservation technology.

Historically, strains of Coronavirus that were able to infect humans (HCoV-OC43, HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63, and HCoVHKU1) were not highly pathogenic and only caused mild respiratory illness. In comparison, more recent strains – SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and COVID-19 – that emerged in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019 are highly pathogenic, resulting in large scale pandemics.

Coronaviruses are a group of enveloped positive-stranded RNA viruses, which contains four structural proteins, including spike glycoprotein, envelope protein, membrane protein, and nucleocapsid protein. Spike glycoprotein is the most important surface protein of Coronavirus that can mediate the entrance to human respiratory epithelial cells by interacting with cell surface receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The spike glycoprotein includes two regions, S1 and S2, where S1 is for host cell receptor binding and S2 is for membrane fusion. Spike glycoprotein is a key target for vaccines, therapeutic antibodies, and diagnostics.

To facilitate research into developing antiviral drugs, vaccines and diagnostics, AMSBIO has begun supplying high quality 2019-nCoV full length S protein, S1 protein and human ACE2 protein based on the HEK293 human cell expression platform. The binding activity of these products has been verified by Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and Biolayer Interferometry (BLI) technologies. The company is also offering antibodies, including antibody pairs against coronavirus for ELISA, PCR detection kit for SARS-CoV-2 and ACE2 expression vectors, shRNA vectors and CRISPR kits.

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AMS Biotechnology (AMSBIO)