Respiratory Virus Repository Antwerp (ReViRAnt)
In need of a recent respiratory viral strain? At the UAntwerp, ReViRAnt generates a repository of low passage, live viral isolates of respiratory viruses, derived from pediatric patients. These isolates are available to industry, CROs, and academia via MTA, license agreement, or collaborative projects in which we also provide our expertise.
Video: ReViRAnt
Situation before
The recurrent epidemics of respiratory viruses, such as Influenzavirus, RSV, hMPV… allows respiratory viruses to evolve and possibly generate new variants with altered characteristic. These changes can include immune escape to natural immunity or vaccine-induced immunity, increased infectivity and/or pathogenicity. While genomic surveillance of respiratory viruses is well-established, the collection of low-passage and validated clinical isolates is lagging behind. In the advent of recently introduced vaccines and monoclonal antibodies for viruses such as RSV, monitoring how changes in the viral genome translate to a specific phenotype that may affect vaccine efficacy is critical.
Technology
ReViRAnt has established a repository of respiratory viruses. We have over 100 RSV strains from 2017 until now. Since 2024, we are also collecting other respiratory viruses such as Influenzavirus, seasonal Coronaviruses, hMPV, PIV... Our close collaboration with the University of Antwerp and the Antwerp University Hospital (UZA) provides access to both clinical samples and research and clinical expertise.
Our repository characteristics are:
- Viruses at low passage, thus minimizing the occurrence of cell culture adaptations
- Virus isolation within 2-4 hours of collecting patient samples, thus guaranteeing a high success rate in virus isolation, even for sensitive respiratory viruses
- Viral collection with a large phenotypic heterogeneity
- Constantly updated bank, thus covering the currently circulating strains
- Genomic sequencing data and phenotypic virus characteristics available
- Easy access to virus isolates, with ethical clearance already in place
- Possibility to have access to limited patient information, such as disease severity
- Original clinical samples are biobanked and can be made available upon request
Partners we search for
We seek partnerships with industry, CROs and academia that are looking for viral strains for R&D and serology testing, vaccine development, controlled human infection models (CHIM) studies, development of animal models for respiratory infections… We can work with a straightforward MTA, licence agreement, via collaborative projects or tailor-made agreements.
About the researchers
The Laboratory of Microbiology, Parasitology and Hygiene (LMPH, Prof. dr. Peter Delputte) has an ongoing collaboration with the Antwerp University Hospital (Prof. dr. Stijn Verhulst) and the Department of Clinical Biology (Prof. dr. Veerle Matheeussen). This collaboration ensures immediate access to patient samples, primary respiratory virus isolates, fully equipped microbiology and molecular biology lab as well as facilities for antimicrobial screening.
More information
University of Antwerp
Valorisation Office
Middelheimlaan 1
2020 Antwerp - Belgium
Phone: +32 3 265 30 25