Rising to the challenge

With the arrival of SARS-CoV-2 in Europe in early 2020, scientists at the Vienna BioCenter quickly recognised the potential of basic research equipment and expertise for the development of innovative testing approaches. Within weeks, initiatives sprung up that soon led to important discoveries and tangible approaches for improving the monitoring of the virus.

The timeline below is frequently updated

2021

6 April: Valneva announces positive data for Part A of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate "VLA2001".

22 February: ÖQUASTA renewed for SARSeq (variant information also reported).

19 February: SARSeq Team surpasses 11000 samples sequenced for detection of mutations in the Spike gene.

February: Contract with AGES is signed for SARSeq-team to sequence a minimum of 1,000 positive SARS-CoV-2 samples per week in order to monitor variant spread and to identify new mutations.

12 February: Based on the detection of B.1.351 in Tyrol, the federal government of Austria declares quarantine for the state of Tirol.

1 February: Valneva reports that the UK Government has exercised its option to order 40 million doses of its inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate for supply in 2022.

28 January: Valneva announces production start of its inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate in parallel to the ongoing clinical studies.

21 January: First Next Generation Sequencing run with SARSeq-S-tiling detects a cluster of B.1.351 variant (originally from South Africa) in Tyrol.

20 January: Comparison of direct input RT-PCR and RT-LAMP against diagnostic RT-qPCR published as preprint on medRxiv.

12 January: Valneva announces it is in advanced discussions with the European Commission (EC) for the supply of up to 60 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, VLA2001.

January: Non-profit reagent kits for performing RT-LAMP and bead-LAMP are provided by the VDRC team at the Vienna BioCenter Core Facilities via see https://www.rtlamp.org/kits/.

2020

30 December: First variants of concern containing N501Y identified by the SARSeq team using Sanger sequencing and reported to AGES

22 December: SARSeq team orders primers to sequence the S-gene and detect variants of concern

16 December: Valneva announces the initiation of a Phase 1/2 clinical study for its inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate "VLA2001".

11 December: Collaborative grant by Volkswagen Stiftung to support African labs in the implementation of RT-LAMP tests

7 December: Research project on monitoring in care homes leads to first publication. 

12 November: Launch of Lexogen’s QuantSeq-Pool Targeted SARS-CoV-2 Panel, the first commercial Covid-19 ultra-high-throughput test for public health mass screening.

3 November: SARSeq allowing high throughput testing of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses is published as preprint on medRxiv.

21 October: Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) endorses RT-LAMP as fast, cheap and reliable testing method and viable complement to PCR tests

19 October: Pauli/Brennecke RT-LAMP website providing full protocol goes online: www.rtlamp.org; European patent filed for Elling/Cochella SARSeq

16 October: ÖQUASTA approval for SARSeq and RT-LAMP

mid-October: Caritas of Archdiocese Vienna, Johannes Zuber, Novid20, and others start pilot project to monitor staff in retirment and care homes

1 October: "Cluster Buster Bus" presented, offers mobile testing in Vienna with independently developed RT-LAMP protocol

28 September: Implementation of sample-pooling, theoretical capacity: 6000 samples/day

21 September: Press Conference: Heinz Faßmann and Peter Hacker present mobile testing initiative for schools in Vienna: gargling method, analysis at Vienna BioCenter

14 September: Valneva announced a vaccine partnership with the UK government for its inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, VLA2001.

8 September: Over 600 samples processed at Vienna BioCenter per day

4 September: Corona “traffic light” introduced by Austrian government

3 September: COVID-19 testing: sample processing and analysis moved to VCDI screening lab run by Vienna Biocenter Core Facilties. New test-kits and sampling logistics rolled out under the responsibility of Johanna Trupke; testing at Vienna BioCenter is expanded to include Max Perutz Labs and DOME

18 August: First person tested positive for COVID-19 on site. Contact tracing, close monitoring and isolation allow for swift identification and containment

17 August: VCDI initiates large-scale monitoring project at Austrian schools using gargling in combination with pooling and RT-qPCR

13 July: VCDI releases complete SOP for routine SARC-CoV-2 monitoring

15-19 June and 29 June-3 July: 5,100 gargling samples taken and analysed in "school-study" coordinated by Michael Wagner and Manuela Födinger; IMP provides testing-strategy (gargling-protocol) and analyses the samples as part of VCDI

24 June: Preprint on RT-LAMP testing protocol on bioRxiv (Kellner et al.)

10 June: Corona-blog relaunched as News-blog by IMP/IMBA/GMI/VBCF

4 June: CEBINA announces that it has received seed funding for its extended spectrum Coronavirus vaccine project, which is part of the company's broad-scale efforts offering short-, mid- and longer-term solutions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

29 May: Start of antibody-testing for IMP/IMBA/GMI/VBCF employees

15 May: 1.1 Mio Euro granted to IMBA by the European Commission as part of the MAD-CoV 2 project, funding further COVID19 research; restaurants reopen in Austria, border to Germany and Switzerland reopens

13 May: 2000 tests performed at the institutes

6 May: 1000 test kits collected at the institutes

4 May: Gradual reopening of Austrian schools; Second Austria-wide prevalence study; Phase 2 restart at institutes, shift plans still in place

30 April: 2,000 confirmed active cases in Austria

29 April: First next generation sequencing run for detection of SARS-CoV-2 by Luisa Cochella, Uli Elling, Alex Stark and Ramesh Yelagandula; second Kingfisher machine delivered to IMP, speeding up testing procedure; Lexogen receives funding from the Austria Research Promotion Agency (FFG) for the development of a novel SARS-CoV-2 test method for mass screening

28 April: Summer School 2020 cancelled

22 April: Valneva and Dynavax Technologies Corporation announced their collaboration to initiate a vaccine program for the current coronavirus, COVID-19.

21 April: Start of in-house COVID-19 testing at IMP/IMBA/GMI/VBCF (regular RT-qPCR tests on pharyngeal lavage samples) - voluntary and anonymous

20 April: Second test using patient samples analysed at IMP: pooling successful

17 April: Johannes Zuber communicates first results of tests with patient samples at Klinik Favoriten; gargling works well and sensitivity often superior

15 April: Gradual reopening of the institutes with shift plans and safety measures in place

14 April: Johannes Zuber shares detailed protocol for sample preparation (swab and gargling) with Klinik Favoriten; partial lockdown in Austria eased gradually

9 April: Johannes Zuber et al. prepare SOP to provide regular RT-qPCR testing for IMP/IMBA/GMI/VBCF employees; extensive hardware orders for Molecular Biology service at IMP; Meinrad Busslinger initiates IgM/IgG antibody testing for employees

3 April: Several research institutions join forces to form “Vienna COVID-19 Diagnostics Initiative (VCDI)”, later renamed into “Vienna COVID-19 Detection Initiative”; IMBA receives WWTF funding for its involvement in three different COVID19 projects, as part of the WWTF’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Funding

2 April: Johannes Zuber and Alwin Köhler (Max Perutz Labs) initiate collaboration with Wiener Gesundheitsverbund (Manuela Födinger, Robert Fritsche-Polanz) on the gargling-protocol

1 April: WWTF COVID-19 Rapid Response Funding 2020: 50,000 EUR grant awarded to Johannes Zuber and team

30 March: Up-to-date employee-information via “Corona-Blog” on Sharepoint, serviced by IMP/IMBA/GMI/VBCF Comms

16 March: Partial lockdown in Austria, schools & universities closed; IMP/IMBA/GMI/VBCF issue strict limitations and safety rules, operations reduced to a minimum, all but essential staff working from home

mid-March: Andrea Pauli (IMP) and Julius Brennecke (IMBA) & team start project on fast and easy SARS-CoV-2 detection using RT-LAMP; Johannes Zuber (IMP) and team start testing alternative sampling-methods (gargling); Luisa Cochella (IMP), Ulrich Elling (IMBA), Alexander Stark (IMP) and Ramesh Yelagandula (IMBA) start project on NGS-based COVID-19 testing

11 March: WHO declares pandemic

10 March: Safety regulations at institutes tightened, events > 100 participants cancelled

27 February: International business travel-ban effective for IMP-employees

25 February: First COVID-19 infections detected in Austria