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Animal experiments, cell studies and computational models are being used by researchers around the world to find the origins of the current pandemic. An article in Nature looks at the various studies underway that may help to understand how the coronavirus develops, what other animal species are susceptible to infection and the likely pattern of mutation in the virus. Currently a team at the CAS Institute of Microbiology, Beijing, China, plans to introduce RATG13 – a genome found in bats that is almost identical to SARS-CoV-2 – into bats, cats, monkeys and pigs, to study mutations. Another group from the University of Hong Kong found that the virus replicates well in organoids - 3D tissue culture that mimics in vivo organs - grown from intestinal stem cells of Chinese horseshoe bats. Meanwhile, a study at University College London, UK, modelled the structure of ACE2 - the receptor that allows the virus to infect and destroy our cells - from more than 215 vertebrates. This found that the receptor in sheep, chimpanzees and gorillas, engages with the protein on the surface of the virus, which suggests that these animals might be susceptible to infection.

Researchers at the Institut Pasteur, Paris, France, have developed a successful vaccine to treat severe In collaboration with NEOVACS, a French biotechnology company, the team created a vaccine that generates The findings, published in Nature Communications, show the new vaccine could create long-term protection

In particular, Kirk corrected her claim that 'the speed at which Covid vaccines were developed using were likely to be effective; once a vaccine was developed monkeys were used to ensure the safety and efficacy of the candidate vaccines. For instance, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine relied on preclinical data generated by BioNTech in Germany Other Covid-19 vaccine candidates, such as the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and the Janssen vaccine, have

Fears of domestic and farm animals being infected by Covid-19 and in turn spreading it further, has led Research from China has shown Covid-19 to not be very infectious in dogs, pigs, chickens and ducks, but ferrets and cats could be readily infected, however there is no evidence that humans can acquire Covid In a Q&A on Covid-19, the World Organisation for Animal Health said: “Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that animals infected by humans are playing a role in the spread of Covid-19.”

revealed the continued drive of institutions in 2020 to raise awareness despite the restrictions of the Covid EARA executive director, Kirk Leech, said: “Despite the restrictions of the Covid pandemic, it’s clear

EARA has put together a map animation to display the many studies in vaccine development and basic research The basic research and drug testing stages for Covid-19 are likely to need the use of a variety of animals Research, Germany, and the University of Texas at Austin, USA, has identified an antibody that neutralises Covid

With corona, the scientific community has woken up to realize how little is known about Covid-19, the “Researchers were in a hurry to get animal models that can be used to study Covid-19 and to develop vaccines especially the case now during the corona, when there is no certainty that the necessary medicines, vaccines Despite the Covid-19, research work has continued and the animals are being cared for normally.

and EARA sources, displaying the efforts currently underway across the world to find a treatment for Covid EARA global overview of how animals are helping in Covid-19 research

non-human primates, in this case using four rhesus macaques, could be a useful animal model to study COVID To the authors, the results also indicate that reports of some COVID-19 survivors being “re-infected”

Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, USA, have found that antibodies taken from a llama are some of the first to neutralise the coronavirus. They discovered that two copies of an antibody produced by llamas bind tightly to a protein, called the spike protein, on the coronavirus. This prevents the spike protein from performing its normal function, which is to break into host cells. “The antibodies could also be used to treat somebody who is already sick to lessen the severity of the disease,” said co-author of the study Professor Jason McLellan in the Daily Mail. The work was done in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, USA, and EARA member Ghent University, Belgium. Now the group intends to conduct preclinical research in animals such as monkeys or hamsters before moving onto human clinical trials.

A US-led clinical trial of a candidate treatment for Covid-19 has been shown to speed up recovery. several coronaviruses in both monkeys and transgenic mice, including SARSCoV-2, the coronavirus causing Covid The preliminary results of the clinical trials showed Covid-19 patients receiving remdesivir, recoveried

continuing to deliver medical breakthroughs that regularly appear on the front pages of the media - Covid vaccines, HIV treatments, anti-malarial treatment and organ transplants. of animal research in combatting infectious disease and protecting public health from emergencies (Covid -19) and other life-saving vaccines, as illustrated in another EARA feature article Why are animals used