In the context of COVID-19, reliable high-quality and mutation specific antibodies, proteins and assays for research are urgently needed. With the release of the world’s first product-centric SARS-CoV-2 Mutations Tracker, antibodies-online.com now offers biomedical scientists a free resource to stay informed on daily and weekly updates on mutation specific research reagents as they become available for use in biomedical labs. 

COVID-19 mutations on the rise

In many countries COVID-19 is on the rise again and variants of the original wild type of SARS-CoV-2 have predominantly emerged. Furthermore, recent preprint publications hint to accelerated transmission and/or dramatically lower vaccination efficacy with the variants first spotted in UK, Brazil and South Africa. Furthermore last week’s reports from France’s DSG point to a new French variant, potentially evading public SARS-CoV-2 and antigen testing procedures. Inevitably more mutations and strains are likely to be discovered and become a concern in the future as the virus continues to evolve in the years following.

This is also the reason why antibodies-online.com reported a significant shift in demand towards mutation-specific recombinant proteins and antibodies last month. Biomedical labs are now in need of recombinant SARS-CoV-2 mutant specific proteins mimicking native folding and for antibodies reliably detecting S- and N-Proteins in relevant virus lineages. Made from these are ELISA Kits and assays required to quickly generate quantitative results for drug discovery and vaccine development projects. 

Tracking of virus lineages and mutation specific products

A number of websites have already embarked on the daunting task of tracking all SARS-CoV-2 lineages and their spread. However, none of these offer a direct reference to high-quality research reagents required to qualify and quantify mutation impact on vaccination and diagnostics. “As a reagent provider, we need to give scientists the necessary tools to battle the continuously evolving SARS-CoV-2 virus population,” Dr. Andreas Kessell, Co-Founder of antibodies-online.com, explains. “Our SARS-CoV-2 Mutations Tracker is the latest piece in this toolbox.”

The website helps keep track of virus lineages and mutation specific products. The page will be updated regularly and keeps a close look on lineages of concern which are B.1.1.7, B.1.351, B.1.429, B.1.526 and P.1. Additionally, the lineages of note A.23.1, B.1.2 and B.1.525 are monitored with respect to available recombinant proteins, assays and antibodies for research use as well as relevant scientific publications.

Newly discovered lineages will be added as they advance to one of these two classifications. As the company has contracted more than 250 manufacturers and vendors of research reagents worldwide, updates for newly available products are currently processed on a daily basis.  

Mutations Tracker is free of charge

For more than a year, antibodies-online.com has been a trusted source for almost 500 research labs worldwide that are working on diagnostic tools and vaccines against the canonical SARS-CoV-2. Along this line of supporting the forefront of COVID-19 research, the Germany and US based global vendor of research products now offers the world’s first research-product SARS-CoV-2 Mutations Tracker.

"Our Mutations Tracker is a highly up-to-date web resource of mutation-specific proteins, antibodies and assays and will evolve to become an important tool for scientists in a rapidly growing research product landscape," says Co-Founder and CEO Dr. Tim Hiddemann. Access to this new web resource on COVID-19 research is free of charge.