The fight against the coronavirus is being waged in science labs right in our backyard. Scientists with the nonprofit Baruch S. Blumberg Institute, which manages the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center community, are conducting antibodies tests in area hospitals and working on a drug candidate that shows promise for treating COVID-19.

Inside a lab in Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, Dr. Patrick Romano held out a tray of vials, each containing serum extracted from patients and hospital employees who have recovered from COVID-19.

We are one of the first companies in the local area to be doing antibody testing against the SARS-COVID-19. We are working with local health care professionals to provide this data to help them screen their employees, said Romano, a research and innovation specialist with FlowMetric Diagnostics and a Baruch S. Blumberg Institute professor who is looking for antibodies against the COVID-19 virus.

Romano is among dozens of scientists from seven companies in the nonprofit research center who are battling the deadly virus on many fronts. FlowMetric and Serologix are working to meet the urgent demands of hospitals seeking diagnostic tests to determine if people have been exposed to COVID-19 and if they have developed antibodies.

Romano said he hopes to soon work with area hospitals to identify patients who would be candidates for convalescent serum donations, which he said is a critical need for people who are critically ill right now. Convalescent plasma is being investigated across the globe for the treatment of COVID-19 because there is research gained from previous scientific studies suggesting it might help individuals recover.

Earlier this week, Bucks County health and government officials reached out to the Biotechnology Center to discuss expanding antibodies testing capabilities.

Thousands of tests have been done here, said Timothy Block, president of both the institute and the biotechnology center, which is home to 55 biotech companies. He added that Blumberg scientists are not just working behind the scenes.

They are actively involved in fighting the crisis right now, said Block. They are responding to wherever hospitals locally are asking for help.

Responding to immediate needs to expand capacity for testing in area hospitals has been a big priority. So has researching and developing treatments.

Inside the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center community, managed by the nonprofit Blumberg Institute on Old Easton Road in Buckingham, scientists are conducting research with a drug candidate they developed years ago to determine if it could be an effective treatment for COVID-19.

We have been working on antiviral drugs for two decades at Blumberg, said Block, founder of the virology research center and the Hepatitis B Foundation. Our focus has been hepatitis B, liver cancer and other cancers, but some of the drugs we have discovered appear to have activity against other viruses.

The nonprofit research engine of the biotechnology center, the Blumberg Institute, said two promising approaches are being developed by Bixi Life Sciences, based at the center.

For one of those projects, Iminovirs, scientists are investigating a family of drugs, called iminosugar ER glucosidase inhibitors, which significantly reduce the replication of SARS-1 (the cause of SARS). Based on how it works, it may have activity against SARS-CoV-2.

In the lab of Dr. Yizeng Yang, scientists are synthesizing mini-antibody mimetics, intended to prevent SARS-CoV 2 from binding to and attacking target cells. These would serve as artificial antibodies.

A live virus is not being used for testing at the center, and scientists are working with partnering institutions to develop their research, Block said.

We dont have the ability to test it against the actual authentic virus here, said Block, who said the project is being tested at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. We are a little ways away from knowing whether the drug will have activity against the cause of COVID-19. But we are looking into our toolkit to see what we have.

While there is no way of predicting whether a cure for COVID-19 will stem from the research, Block said hes proud of scientists dedication in finding a way to fight the pandemic.

Right in our back yard, here is this busy center where scientists are rising to the occasion doing what they can, carrying out tests for COVID-19 and where research is being done for our future.

To develop that toolkit, funding the work is essential, said Lou Kassa, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the institute and the biotech center.

To foster support, the center has created a Covid-19 Blumberg Action Fund, which would help the Blumberg Institutes efforts to repurpose existing drugs and methods for the treatment and control of COVID-19.

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Doylestown Biotechnology center, Blumberg Institute, on the front lines of coronavirus fight - The Intelligencer