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The COVID-19 pandemic is a worldwide public health crisis with over 440 million confirmed cases and 6.0 million deaths as of March 2022. COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). While there are several vaccines available for COVID-19, there are few therapeutics available that specifically target SARS-CoV-2. Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is less understood than SARS-CoV-2. MERS-CoV patients have a 65% long-term survival rate, according the World Health Organization (WHO).

Immunotherapy is a cutting-edge new category of treatment that aims to harness and, in some cases, modify the patient’s own immune cells to improve their ability to cure diseases. It can be an effective approach for a variety of conditions, ranging from cancer to inflammatory diseases.  However, a number of obstacles to the overall success of immunotherapy still exist.  For example, reactivity against a target antigen can be attenuated or the lifespan of the “modified” immune cells can be too short.

Multi-parameter flow cytometry has been extensively used in multiple disciplines of biological discoveries, including immunology and cancer research. However, the disadvantage of traditional flow cytometry platforms using excitation lasers and fluorescence detectors is spectral overlap when using multiple dyes on the same biological sample. Metaethical compensation of spectral overlap could only be effective to a certain degree. Mass cytometry is advantageous compared to flow cytometry but is pricey and requires highly skilled operators. 

Biological nanoparticles, like extracellular vesicles (EVs), possess unique biological characteristics making them attractive therapeutic agents, targets, or disease biomarkers. However, their use is hindered by the lack of tools available to accurately detect, sort, and analyze. Flow cytometers are used to sort and study individual cells. But, they are unable to detect and sort nanomaterials smaller than 200 nanometers with single epitope sensitivity.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has changed the prognosis of HIV-1 infection to a chronic illness that, in most cases, can be managed or controlled. Integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) and reverse transcription inhibitors are essential components of ART drug cocktails. In compliant individuals, ART has been found to block viral replication completely. Additionally, blocking viral replication can prevent the emergence of drug resistance.

The Corona virus disease, 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a worldwide public health crisis with over 153 million confirmed cases and 3.2 million deaths as of April 2021. COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. SARS-COV-2 infects hosts via its spike (S) protein, which has two portions, S1 that binds the cell and S2 that is involved in viral entry via fusion with the cell membrane. There are several vaccines available for COVID-19 patients that directly target SARS-CoV-2 by systemic immunization.

Computer and imaging technologies led to the development of digital pathology and the capture and storage of pathological specimens as digitally formatted images. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in digital pathology, such as in three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction, requires analyses of high volumes of data. This resulted in increased demands for processing and acquisition of digital images of pathology samples. Increased usage cannot be met by the time-consuming, manual, and laborious methods currently used.

Bioluminescence imaging with luciferin-luciferase pairs is a well-established technique for tracking cells and other biological features in animal models. Bioluminescent is a chemical process which does not require an external input for excitation. Bioluminescent imaging is often limited to monitoring single processes in vivo due to the lack of distinguishable probes. Additionally, existing probes typically operate with light in the visible range, which is highly scattered and exhibits poor tissue penetration. 

This technology describes additional methods of using the griffithsin anti-viral polypeptides described in related NCI invention (reference number E-106-2003).  Specifically, this invention describes the use of GRFT to inhibit viral infection of hepatitis C viral infection, a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) viral infection, an H5N1 viral infection, or an Ebola viral infection. 

Virus entry into a susceptible host cell is the first step in the formation of all viral diseases. Controlling viral infections by disrupting viral entry is advantageous for antibody-mediated neutralization by the host’s immune system and as a preventive and therapeutic antiviral strategy. Plant-derived carbohydrate-binding proteins (lectins) have emerged as a new class of antiviral biologics by taking advantage of a unique glycosylation pattern only found on the surface of viruses.