Immunologist Erica Ollman Saphire, an expert who has worked on the front lines in west Africa battling viral hemorrhagic fevers, gives a fascinating and sometimes frightening on-the-ground account of how something called the VIC global consortium developed the only effective strategy to fight the Ebola virus.
The VIC or Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Immunotherapeutic Consortium, was established in 2014 to develop life-saving antibody therapeutics against some of the world’s deadliest viruses. The VIC represents a field-wide collaboration in which all of the leading laboratories, from over 15 institutions, have united to develop the most efficacious antibody cocktail possible against Ebola virus.
In her presentation, Erica takes you inside the workings of how this collaborative effort allows each laboratory to contribute their strengths in analytical techniques towards the identification, characterization, and validation of antibodies against viruses like Ebola.
From isolating novel antibodies and testing them in vivo, to analyzing the structure of the molecular mechanism for Ebola neutralization, Erica shows how the VIC scientists each contribute unique insights towards the overall characterization of each antibody, and have ultimately established a method which could be used to defend against new diseases emerging in our world of global change.
Watch A Molecular Roadmap to Global Health presented by Saturday Science at The Scripps Research Institute.
