Odisha: Institute of Life Sciences establishes animal challenge study platform for vaccine, drug trial

BHUBANESWAR: Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar has established an animal challenge study platform for experimentation with animals for the purpose of vaccine and drug trial for Covid-19. This platform has a specialised animal biosafety level 3 (ABSL3) laboratories for research and experimentation.
This platform has an integrated facility for animal trials starting from infecting a mice or hamster to observing its movement and health condition.It has Micro-CT to see the changes in an animal's body and other equipment used for isolating tissues, extracting protein and RNA (ribonucleic acid) from the animal cell.
The institute has already started its in-house works in the ABSL3 laboratory. Its scientists have worked on a hamster model of Covid-19 to know how the virus affects the animal and what are the reactions of the latter This type of study will help in evaluating potential vaccines and antiviral drugs.
The hamster model study was carried out by a team led by Shatibhusan Senapati and Gulam Syed of the institute. “Small animals like mice and Syrian hamsters are advantageous to study coronavirus. Among different available animal models, so far hamsters have been widely utilized in SARS-CoV-2 infection studies,” said official sources.
The team has recently established and characterised hamster models of SARS-CoV-2 infection by using a local virus isolate which is cultured and characterised at ILS. The proteomic studies carried out by the team shows the similarities between coronavirus infection in humans and hamsters. Covid affects this animal and shows its impact on lungs like the virus does to a human. This provided strong molecular evidence which supports the clinical relevance of this model in Covid-19 research, said Senapati.
Ajay Parida, director of the institute, said the animal model and the ABSL3 facility of the institute will contribute to a major role in providing services for the testing and evaluation of drugs and vaccine candidates for Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). ILS has also established K18-h ACE2 Transgenic mice colonies which will be complementary to the evaluation efforts, he added.
This platform has been established with the support from Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) under the Mission Covid Suraksha. ILS scientists have established animal models for research work.
This facility will be operating on a fee-for-service mode or on a partnership mode and will be available for use by researchers from academics, industry and start-ups from India and abroad. The current and prospective users of the ILS platform include NIRRH Mumbai, IIT Indore, NCBS-InStem Bangalore, NCL Pune and CIAB Mohali.