Symposium 1

Dr. Tan Chee Wah is a senior research fellow in Professor Wang Linfa ‘s lab, mainly working on bat-borne viruses, including bat filoviruses, coronaviruses, and orthoreoviruses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led the invention of the SARS-CoV-2 surrogate neutralization test, which was commercialized by Genscript under the trade name cPassTM and was the first serology test for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) that was granted US FDA EUA approval. Since then, he has established a sophisticated multiplex sVNT, which can detect NAbs against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and other SARS-related coronaviruses. This led to his discovery of pan-sarbecovirus immunity in SARS survivors who received BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine. 

Session:

Contagion & Containment, 7 October 2022, 1000 - 1130 hrs
Broad Spectrum COVID Vaccines

Neutralizing antibody (NAb) levels are highly predictive of immune protection from symptomatic infection and severe disease. The unprecedented degree of neutralizing antibody escaped by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron highlights the need of broad-spectrum COVID-19 vaccines. Here, we describe the use of SARS-CoV-2 surrogate Virus Neutralisation test (sVNT) on the key breakthrough’s discovery of the pan-sarbecovirus immunity in BNT162b2-vaccinated SARS survivors and how we translate this discovery to a cross-clade boosting vaccination strategy that elicits broad-spectrum neutralizing antibodies. 

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