Research Projects

SPP-ARC EXPERTISE CORES 

In addition to supporting our researchers through funding of individuals projects, our consortium includes several large-scale research groups that aim to build capacity in pandemic preparedness research and to complement existing projects and infrastructure. 

Molecular Virology Core


Core Lead: Tom Hobman

Team: Matthew Croxen, David Evans, Robert Ingham, Olivier Julien, Katharine Magor, David Marchant, Vanessa Meier-Stephenson, Ryan Noyce and Lorne Tyrrell.

The goal of the Molecular Virology Core is to provide expertise and support for discovery, testing and validation of novel antiviral compounds and vaccine candidates at the University of Alberta. The core’s principal investigators, their trainees, and research staff have extensive expertise in isolation and characterization of respiratory and vector-borne viruses as well as developing methods and assays to identify antiviral compounds and support testing of novel vaccines that inhibit replication of these pathogens. Respiratory viruses that are routinely studied by this group include coronaviruses, influenza viruses, pneumoviruses, picornaviruses and poxviruses.

Services and support provided by this core will include:

  1. In vitro testing and validation of hits/lead compounds (Hobman, Marchant, Noyce and Tyrrell)
  2. Bulk and single-cell proteomics of virus-infected cells (Julien and Ingham)
  3. Small animal models for in vivo testing of hits/lead compounds

Current core-supported projects include:

  1. Influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 luciferase reporter systems (Hobman, Noyce and Magor)
  2. Replicon and pseudovirus systems for respiratory viruses (Noyce and Marchant)
  3. High throughput screen for interferon response enhancers (Hobman and Julien)

Therapeutics Core


Core Lead: Matthias Götte

Team: Vanessa Meier-Stephenson, Kalyan Das, Michael Meanwell, Dennis Hall, Frederick West, John Klassen, Tom Hobman, David Marchant, Katharine Magor, Joanne Lemieux, Olivier Julien, John Vederas, Ryan Noyce

The therapeutic arm of SPP-ARC’s efforts in the coming years will focus on two principal targets, viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRp) and proteases. The supported projects are designed to balance capacity building and innovation in the areas of enzymology, structure-based drug design, medicinal chemistry and analytical chemistry. Success with the proposed research will facilitate rapid responses to emerging viruses with the overarching goal to advance small molecule antivirals more rapidly into clinical trials.

Current core-supported projects include:

  1. Discovery of novel inhibitors of the influenza virus polymerase complex (Götte, Meier-Stephenson, Das, Meanwell, Hall, West, Klassen, Hobman, Marchant, Magor)
  2. Development of protease inhibitors with a broad spectrum of antiviral activity against sarbeco- and zoonotic coronaviruses (Lemieux, Julien, Vederas, Tyrrell, Noyce)

Vaccine & Immune Responses Core


Core Leads: Maya Shmulevitz & Troy Baldwin

Team: Ryan Noyce, David Marchant, Holger Wille, Stephanie Yanow, Lorne Tyrrell, Kevin Kane, Harrisios Vliagoftis, Xavier Clemente-Casares, Matthew Macauley, Sue Tsai, Edan Foley, Hanne Ostergaard

The SPP-ARC Vaccine & Immune Responses Core comprises a diverse group of experts in vaccinology, virology, immunology, glycan chemistry, protein biochemistry and machine learning. Together we will create a variety of vaccine candidates and determine the effects of different vaccine platforms, antigens, adjuvants, and administration routes on specific aspects of immune responses, pathogen control, and possible adverse effects. This will be the first of its kind, side-by-side biological comparison of how distinct viral, nucleic acid and protein vaccine platforms delivering the same antigens and administered intranasally versus intramuscularly into healthy male and female mice affect vaccine efficacy. A wide spectrum of parameters will be measured including rarely- assessed changes to specific innate, humoral, and cellular immunity, formation of systemic and tissue resident long-term memory cell populations, a multitude of potential adverse pathologies in all organs, and most importantly pathogen control. We will concurrently establish assays for monitoring immune responses using preserved human samples to allow rapid transition to human applications. Collectively, this study will generate new knowledge regarding different vaccine approaches and increase capacity for development and testing of vaccines thereby preparing us to combat future pandemics.

Current core-supporting projects include:

  1. Developing 4 virus-based vaccine platforms and 1 protein-based vaccine platform to “plug and play” antigens from any future pathogen.
  2. Establishing a pipeline for comparing vectors/vaccine-induced immunity and adverse pathology.
  3. Developing workflows for artificial intelligence (AI)-based integration of vaccine data.

samples wanted: immune responses to 2023 COVID-19 vaccines

SPP-ARC and the CoCollab (Covid-19 Collaboration) are looking to study the immune response to the newest COVID-19 vaccine. We are seeking otherwise healthy individuals who are planning to get the newest COVID-19 vaccine to provide blood samples and medical history.

If you are interested in participating, please email spparc@ualberta.ca for more information.