Rapid antibody test to gauge immune response to SARS-CoV-2 variants

COVID-19 infections are once again on the rise as our immune systems struggle to combat new variants. That's according to a University of Toronto study that found the antibodies generated by people who were vaccinated and/or recovered from COVID-19 prior to 2022 failed to neutralize the variants circulating today. Furthermore, the researchers expect that the antibody test they developed to measure immunity in the study's participants will become a valuable tool for deciding who needs a booster and when, helping to save lives and avoid future lockdowns. "The truth is we don't yet know how frequent our shots should be to prevent infection," said  Igor Stagljar , a professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research and at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. "To answer these questions, we need rapid, inexpensive and quantitative tests that specifically measure Sars-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies, which are the ones that prevent infection." The study was led by Stagljar and Shawn Owen , an associate professor of pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical chemistry, at the University of Utah. The journal  Nature Communications recently published their findings. Many antibody tests have been developed over the past two years.