MuviCyte live-cell imager: an enabling platform to further our understanding of viruses, and our ability to fight them

Presented at SLAS 2021 by collaborators at Boston University showing Aptamer Group’s COVID-19 Optimers used in the high content imager platform, MuviCyte, to help further our understanding of viruses and the assessment of anti-virals to treat infections.

Aim: This work aims to harness the MuviCyte live-cell imager to (1) Identify host pro-viral factors (HPF) regulating flavivirus infection, and (2) Assess the efficacy of potential SARS-CoV-2 anti-viral compounds.

Methods: (1) A customized library of cellular clones each expressing a given HPF was challenged with a fluorescent reporter YFV17D virus. For each clone, infection rate was quantified over time using the MuviCyte live-cell imager. (2) Human cell lines hypersusceptible to SARS-CoV-2 were challenged with a SARS-CoV-2 isolate, following virus or cell pre-treatment with a given anti-viral compounds. For each compound, infection rate was quantified using the MuviCyte mid-throughput endpoint imaging, and a dedicated analysis software.

Conclusions: We were able to (1) identify novel HPF governing YFV-17D infection and (2) identify novel compounds with therapeutic potential against SARS-CoV-2

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