# Consortium for Immunotherapeutics against Emerging Viral Threats

> **NIH NIH U19** · LA JOLLA INSTITUTE FOR IMMUNOLOGY · 2021 · $1,903,653

## Abstract

Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 rapidly emerged and spread throughout the globe to infect millions of people. The SARS-CoV-2
spike protein is the primary target of the immune response and thus most vaccine development efforts used
the spike protein as an immunogen to elicit protective antibodies. However, as SARS-CoV-2 infections surged
in multiple waves, viruses bearing mutations in spike protein emerged, which rendered vaccines that were
developed based on initial sequences of the spike protein less effective. The persistence of these variants and
the likely inevitable development of new variants requires continued efforts to develop novel immunogens
based on SARS-CoV-2 spike that can elicit durable protection that remains effective in the face of new
mutations. The Coronavirus Immunotherapeutics Consortium (CoVIC) has gathered hundreds of monoclonal
antibodies from researchers around the world and is undertaking a broad, deep and multidisciplinary analysis
of the binding sites of these antibodies to understand which epitopes on spike are associated with
protection. We will examine at an atomic level the binding footprint of protective antibodies and assess
whether certain epitopes are more resistant to the effects of spike mutations. We will also test a novel mouse
model of SARS-CoV-2 infection that involves mice with triple knockin of human ACE2, TMPRSS2, and FcRN.
These mice may better recapitulate the mechanism of infection and pharmacokinetics of protective antibodies
elicited in response to vaccination. We will use these mice to examine the protective capacity of antibodies in
longitudinal samples from individuals who received currently available vaccines. Given the critical role of data
sharing and dissemination for rapid responses to emerging mutations and to maximize use of the information
generated in this proposal by the broader scientific community, we are building the CoVIC database, termed
CoVIC-DB, which allows real-time dissemination and analysis of information on this array of protective
antibodies. CoVIC-DB is an open, web-accessible database that will serve as a long-term resource to
understand key properties of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10447562
- **Project number:** 3U19AI142790-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** LA JOLLA INSTITUTE FOR IMMUNOLOGY
- **Principal Investigator:** Erica Ollmann Saphire
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $1,903,653
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-08-17 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10447562

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10447562, Consortium for Immunotherapeutics against Emerging Viral Threats (3U19AI142790-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10447562. Licensed CC0.

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