Week 3: ELISA – enzyme linked immunosorbent assay
Introduction
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a fair number of people thought that they had been infected with SARS-CoV2, but they had not had serious symptoms or typical symptoms of infection. But how could they know that it was COVID-19? Perhaps they had just had a regular cold. In the earliest months, qPCR and lateral flow tests for SARS-CoV2 were not widely available. By the time these tests were available, the virus would have long since gone from the body, and these tests would show a negative result. In fact, it was still possible to tell whether a person had come into contact with the virus because they would still have antibodies against it − antibodies last for many months.
Transcript: Audio 1 Introduction to Week 3
By the end of this week you should be able to:
- outline the theoretical background and steps used in an ELISA
- carry out an ELISA in a virtual laboratory to detect antibodies to SARS-CoV2 spike protein
- report antibody titres derived from your assay
- interpret your results.