The ferret DNA microarray for transcriptomics was developed by the UIB Nutrigenomics research group led by Dr Andreu Palou, and could help speed up vaccine development to fight the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, responsible for COVID-19 disease
The University of the Balearic Islands has transferred the DNA microarray licence for the complete ferret (Mustela putorius furo) genome to Agilent Technologies, Inc (California, USA), a leading US multinational in scientific equipment services and technologies.
The technology was developed by the Nutrigenomics research group led by Professor Andreu Palou and enables the study of biochemical mechanisms linked to virus infection, such as the effectiveness of possible vaccines against infectious respiratory pathologies or responses to drug treatments. Ferret lungs and airways are very similar to those in humans, meaning they are often used to study respiratory diseases, such as the flu, cystic fibrosis, lung cancer and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Studies in ferrets enable researchers to save time in developing vaccines, since their similarity to humans means they can be tested directly (thus avoiding prior handling and adaptation which are required when other animals are used).
The scientific community considers ferrets to be the best animal for research into human respiratory diseases. The use of the microarray by Dr Palou's team, as well as other objectives, has already been published in renowned science journals over the last two years, and the microarray was temporarily licensed in 2019 by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (USA) to study flu vaccines.
Thanks to the agreement with Agilent, UIB technology is already available to be used by research groups around the world that are focused on producing vaccines against animal and human viruses, including the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus responsible for COVID-19.
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Publication date: Tue Apr 07 09:11:00 CEST 2020
