COVID 19 is caused by a new coronavirus , SARS-CoV-2, which is highly infectious and can cause a wide spectrum of symptoms and affect multiple human systems. What we have learned from other viral infectious diseases is that typically the protection from reinfection is conferred by the development of neutralizing antibodies. These are antibodies that can bind to the virus in a way that they prevent the entry of the virus into the cell. Here we present a novel, high throughput neutralizing antibody test, the cPass™ SARS-Cov-2 Neutralization antibody test that can rapidly and efficiently detect neutralizing antibodies. The gold standard (virus neutralization assay) test for measuring neutralizing antibodies requires the use of live virus, cells, highly skilled operators, and complex safety laboratory procedures (biosafety level 3) that are generally less sensitive and require several days to obtain results. In contrast, the cPass™ Neutralization Antibody Detection Kit can be conducted within an hour in most labs, and is also amenable to high throughput and fully automated testing. In this presentation, we will review the performance and applications of this new technology. We will review applications for convalescent patients testing, convalescent plasma treatment testing and vaccine response analysis.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn about methodologies for COVID-19 screening

2. Learn about the importance of neutralizing antibodies

3. Learn how the cPass SARS-COV-2 Neutralization antibody test is different than other serology tests