Virus samples from Washington’s three positive omicron cases of COVID-19 are now in the hands of scientists in a super secure, Level 3 containment lab at UW Medicine’s complex of research centers in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood.
“Do current antibodies from vaccination protect against omicron?" said Dr. Michael Gale about the upcoming experiments. Gale is the UW Medical School’s co-director for Emerging and Infectious Diseases, and Director for the Center for Innate Immunity and Immune Disease. His department also works with the National Institutes of Health.
In the Seattle lab, samples of the virus can be grown and replicated for a series of experiments that will show either how well we’re protected by vaccines or not.
"We ask if antibodies from people who’ve been vaccinated can actually neutralize the virus in culture. And if it can, it shows us it gives us vaccine protection against omicron,” Gale said.
He said the 17,000 square-foot lab was built six years ago to study dangerous viruses and has hosted many research scientists. Gale said the facility, which is one of the largest in the country, is now being fully utilized in researching COVID-19. He said there are very few labs like it on this scale.
Researchers at UW Medicine are also in close contact with scientists from South Africa who first discovered the omicron variant.