Administrative Core

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic represents an exceptional public health crisis highlighting the need for better understanding of the mechanisms controlling broadly protective immune responses and generating vaccine candidates able to elicit such responses. The program project entitled “Programming Long-lasting Immunity to Coronaviruses (PLUTO)” proposes a comprehensive research plan towards designing pan- sarbecovirus and pan-betacoronavirus vaccines with broad protection by applying in-depth B cell characterization in the context of coronavirus immune histories imprinted by successive vaccinations and/or infections. Two complementary research projects will establish correlates of robust, durable and protective coronavirus humoral immunity (Project 1) as well as design and test efficacy of viral variant-proof pan-sarbecovirus and pan-betacoronavirus vaccines. The Administrative Core led by one of the two Principal Investigators, Dr. Viviana Simon, will function as a coordinating hub of the program providing a strong overall administrative infrastructure. The proposed activities and services of the Administrative Core are to provide overall management and program coordination, to facilitate communication within the program, to monitor progress within the projects and to prioritize, allocate, and manage resources. It will also support cooperation between the Research Projects and Service Cores by putting in place transfer agreements, data management plans and conflict resolution procedures. The Antibody Core will develop a large panel of recombinant monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against coronavirus spike proteins to aid in defining specificity of immune responses elicited by coronavirus infection and/or vaccination in humans and animal models. The Animal Model Core will provide a central resource with approvals, facilities, and expertise to assess efficacy of broadly cross-reactive coronavirus antibodies and vaccines in robust pre-clinical models against a spectrum of coronaviruses, including Select Agents. A multidisciplinary team of scientists from five institutions who have an outstanding track record of working collaboratively will conduct the proposed studies. The Research Projects will collaborate across projects and with the Antibody and Animal Model Cores, coordinated by the Administrative Core. The integrated and synergistic activities across Projects and Cores will drive successful completion of the program project's ambitious research agenda, enabling achievement of the long-term PLUTO goal of developing variant-proof pan-sarbecovirus and pan-betacoronavirus vaccines. These findings will contribute to curbing the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and mitigate the risk of future pandemics with coronaviruses.