Under the umbrella of the 'COVID-19 Turkey Platform' established with the support of TÜBİTAK, approximately 250 scientists from 25 different universities, 8 public research institutions and 8 companies are conducting vaccine and drug development studies.
Like healthcare workers, scientists in laboratories are fighting day and night against the coronavirus.
Work that closely concerns Turkey and the world continues simultaneously in different cities and laboratories. At the center of the process is the TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center (MAM) in Gebze.
Prof. Dr. İbrahim Kılıçaslan, President of MAM, stated that the Ministry of Industry and Technology is trying to take precautions before the coronavirus even arrives in Turkey, and that the relevant academics, universities and technology companies, especially those concerned, have been interviewed:
"A platform was established before the virus came to Turkey. In addition to 25 universities, nearly 250 employees from public and private institutions are carrying out serious work in Turkey within the scope of coronavirus. As MAM, we are coordinating 17 major projects. In this context, on the one hand, we carry out drug development projects against COVID-19, and on the other hand, we are completely responsible for the domestic and international procurement of the materials needed by platform members. Here, we have removed the bureaucracy with the instructions of our Minister, and we act very quickly. Our ministry directly intervenes in the products we have difficulty in procuring and the products are procured quickly."
They are working on a live virus
Scientists are fighting tooth and nail to find a vaccine and medicine that will be effective against the coronavirus. So much so that the first step towards a vaccine is laboratory studies on live virus.
Virus samples obtained from patients are analyzed in the 'Biosafety Level-3 Laboratory', a rare laboratory in Turkey with special security and protection against pathogens. Scientists working in special protective suits in this special laboratory, whose pressure values and atmosphere are kept under constant control, do not go outside until the work they have started is completed.
As risky as these studies are, they are also of great importance as they form the basis of the vaccine and drug to be developed. Because in order to target the structures of the virus that can become vaccines or drugs, the virus must first be recognized correctly. Since the Covid-19 virus also has the ability to change over time, studies continue unabated with each new sample obtained. Prof. Dr. Şaban Tekin, Director of the Institute of Gene Engineering and Biotechnology, who is responsible for the coordination of all the work carried out, explained the process in the following words:
"In the project we are working on for COVID, our work starts with the virus, or the samples that carry the virus. These can be throat/nasal swabs, sputum or brochial fluid samples. Because this virus is a dangerous virus, and especially because it can be inhaled, we have to work in such a high-security laboratory. When we receive the virus from outside, we take our samples here and our colleagues start working. For example, our friends are currently isolating RNA from the samples. These are RNA samples of recovered or sick people. Our aim here is to reveal the antibody library of these patients against the virus and to produce a biological drug that will stop the virus. This is our main goal."
Tekin continued by underlining that they are working on antibodies that will eliminate the effect of the virus:
"Here we are developing antibodies to neutralize the virus. We are developing a biological drug molecule that will prevent the virus from infecting cells and will be used for therapeutic purposes. This is a technology we have long-standing expertise in, as we have made similar biological drugs before. We are now developing the same for COVID."
Candidate molecules are tested with SPR instrument
One of the most important stages in the development of drugs that can eliminate the activity of the virus is to identify the structural proteins of the virus, conduct binding tests with candidate drugs and demonstrate this in animal trials. It is also necessary to identify both viral and cellular proteins that enable the virus to bind to human cells. When developing the targeted drug, the most important source of data is human blood cells that have defeated the virus and the antibodies produced against the virus are identified. After meticulous research, similar natural protective molecules are produced and various tests are used to determine whether they neutralize the virus.
Especially in pharmaceutical studies, the most important stage for developing drugs for the right target molecules is the modeling and SPR binding tests of existing or newly developed drug candidates. Lead Expert Researcher Dr. Hasan Ümit Öztürk summarizes the process as follows:
"We have a virus and the virus has proteins. There is an ACE receptor that it targets and uses to enter the body. Some drugs are being tested against the spike and similar proteins here, and their effectiveness is shown through computerized studies. Of course, since computerized studies are not enough, we need to subject them to different tests in the laboratory to prove whether they show the same interaction so that we can move on to the next stage. We have various tools for this. The most important one is surface plasma resonance analysis, which we call SPR. Using this analysis, we can show the real-time interaction and move the candidate molecules that we see as the most effective to the next stage of viral neutralization."
At what stage are the studies?
The molecules to be made into vaccines must undergo countless tests. Just as viruses do not have the same effect on every body, vaccines and medicines do not have a positive effect on every body unless they are tested correctly and the correct results are obtained. Contrary to the positive effect, a mistake can even lead to fatal consequences. Therefore, it is a long-term process. Prof. Dr. Şaban Tekin explained at what point the studies are at:
"There are 17 projects in total on our platform. 8 of them are vaccine projects. All of these projects have reached a certain point. Some of them are at the starting point, that is, products that we call vaccines based on different technologies are being developed. At this stage, we support some vaccine projects. We send the molecules they need to platform members. After a very short period of time, cellular tests using the real virus will begin. Then we will move on to the stage where the effectiveness of vaccines and drugs will be tested on animals using real viruses. The most critical stage in the vaccine is to examine what effect this molecule will have on the animal. This stage has not yet been reached, but it will soon be reached in some projects. Now we are waiting for the products to come out, studies are continuing. There are serious projects that we are hopeful about and different methodologies and technologies are used in all 8 vaccine projects here. Vaccine types such as viral vaccine, inactivated virus vaccine, RNA vaccine, DNA vaccine are being tested here. All of them have different release times, some can be released in 3-5 months, some in 9-12 months. The goal of our platform is to bring vaccine molecules to a certain point by the end of this year, at least we want to finish animal experiments. The pharmaceutical part is a little different. In the same way, there is a certain process, and the production of the drug molecule continues in all the projects we know within the scope of the project. We are trying to produce antibody-like structures that will prevent the virus from binding to the cell. We are currently scanning different antibody libraries, human antibody libraries and mouse antibody libraries. We are rapidly going through these phases, but the work does not stop. They are being renewed again and again to find a better antibody. It is a difficult process, it is not an easy task to develop vaccines and drugs, but with all our strength, a team of approximately 250 people in 17 projects continues to work under our coordination."
