New paper shows omicron relies more on sugars for infection
Omicron and its sublineages remain a major public health concern owing to their high infectivity and antibody evasion. Perhaps the most challenging is that the sensitivity of some of the available rapid tests have been reduced against Omicron, compared to previous variants, forcing people to rethink COVID-19 testing, according to new research.
Freeman has previously developed sugar-labeled test strips termed GlycoGrip, leveraging the interactions SARS-CoV-2 has with cell surface sugars to reliably detect it.
Freeman’s approach to technology and innovation takes guidance from nature. “If we are able to understand the consequences of new mutations on how the virus interacts with the sugar coat of cells, we might be able to optimize those interactions on our test strips,” said Freeman.
Now, Freeman, in collaboration with researchers from UCSD, examined how the increased positive charge on the surface of spike proteins of variants is affecting the virus’ interactions with its receptors.