Synthetic cells to improve the control of viral infections

Eva Baldrich

Fundació Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron - Institut de Recerca (VHIR)

Each year, influenza viruses cause respiratory infections in 5-15% of the global population, which result in 3-5 million cases of severe illness and 300-650 thousand deaths.

Hemagglutination —a reaction that causes the clumping of red blood cells in the presence of certain viruses— is an essential procedure in the diagnosis, monitoring and characterisation of viruses such as influenza, as well as immunity determination after infection or vaccination. While this procedure is cheap and simple to run, it also involves the use of animal red blood cells, which are variable and unstable and can impede method standardisation.

The aim of this project is to develop synthetic cells, called "syntrocytes" (synthetic erythrocytes), which are capable of binding to the influenza virus and can replace the erythrocytes of animals in hemagglutination assays. The first prototype already outperforms erythrocytes in reproducibility, stability, and speed to produce results. With the support of CaixaResearch, the research team will improve its profitability and increase the number of detectable virus types, including rubella and SARS-CoV-2.

238.920 €