Fanshawe college has begun research on a treatment for COVID-19. The research team is based out of the Center for Applied Research and Innovation in Biotechnology (CARIB)at Fanshawe College.
The team consists of five members and is lead by Dr. Abdullah, Mahboob. Who has a PHD from Brock University in Biotechnology with a specialization in Protein Engineering.
“Were working on the development and testing of novel ways to treat Corona Virus. But in doing so were not only developing methods for testing our potential treatments, but rather any future potential treatments against COVID-19.” Dr. Mahboob explains.
The team is doing research into how small proteins can slow the virus from replicating. “Our main work is in the development of inhibitors against Coronavirus’ ability to evade cellular defenses.” Dr. Mahboob explains that specific proteins bind together in order to trick the cells defenses. If the inhibitors work they would allow the cells to detect the virus and fight back.
The idea of using inhibitors to stop protein interactions with the virus isn’t a new one. “It’s one of the first things that people generally go to when they are faced with a new virus.” However Dr. Mahboob says that the specifics when it comes to this virus are brand new and have been developed by his team.
The research team does all of its testing with only small pieces of the virus. “By knowing what to look for, as a sign of the treatments working or not, we’re able to test many potential treatments without having to use the virus itself.” Dr. Mahboob adds that the ability to use only pieces of the virus is important because very few labs in the country are able to work with the full virus.
The research project is funded by the Southern Ontario Network for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation (SONAMI). Planning for the project began in March but actual testing began in April when the team started to receive funding. “The most difficult part is actually getting everything together so that you can do your test. In order to get everything ready to do the test. That’s what takes a long time. That’s what took us since March to do.”Dr. Mahboob says once everything is ready to go testing only takes few days.
The team has been able to get positive preliminary results from there initial tests. “Our next step now is to expand this testing to cells infected with the Coronavirus. So testing not only on pieces of the virus that we do here at Fanshawe, but rather on the full Virus.” In order to test on the full virus the team is collaborating with a biosafety level three lab.
The team has also begun research on using cannabis-extract to lessen the inflammatory response caused by the virus. Dr. Mahboob says that the extract is only found in small amounts in each plant.
Dr. Mahboob says the cannabis research has also yielded positive results, however it is still in the early stages. “Just because something is working inside the cell does not necessarily mean that it will work on a human being.” he adds that there are still a lot of steps to go through before it is a drug that doctors can use.
Dr. Mahboob is very grateful for the opportunity to do this research. “I just wanted to thank Fanshawe College for giving us the opportunity to participate in this. And for installing very good guidelines for us to maintain social distancing, and still be able to carry on research. I think that this will be a good thing for the college and in the future, I hope that we’ll be able to see more and more positive results coming out of this work.”
As of right now there is no timeline for when a full treatment might be available but Dr. Mahboob and his team are working every day to further there research. For the full release by the College you can click here.
