On Aug. 3, 2020, the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) announced a $1 million gift from GHR Foundation, an independent global philanthropy based in Minneapolis, MN.

This significant gift will support the work of the Coronavirus Immunotherapy Consortium (CoVIC), a global partnership headquartered at LJI. CoVIC is led by Dr. Erica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D., a professor in LJI’s Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research. CoVIC is squarely aimed at accelerating discovery, optimization, and delivery of life-saving antibody-based therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

With more than 50 different efforts currently underway to find therapeutic antibodies across the globe, CoVIC provides a concerted and coordinated effort to compare these antibody candidates side by side under standardized criteria ultimately determining which ones are most likely to protect people and why. Having demonstrated the success of this model from 2014-2019 to test antibodies against Ebola virus, Dr. Saphire launched CoVIC to examine the activity of hundreds of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 contributed by a range of large and small companies and academic labs across multiple continents.

Antibodies inactivate or “neutralize” viruses by latching onto the virus and either disarming it or blocking it from entering the body’s cells. Dr. Saphire will use the funds from GHR Foundation to analyze and compare the ability of different antibodies to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 infection of different cell types and under different conditions.

Private philanthropy has been key to the Institute’s ability to respond quickly to the pandemic without having to wade through a lengthy grant process to enable research to begin. Several of the most prominent private foundations in the country have recognized the opportunity to impact global health at this moment and have pivoted to focus on scientific research. With this gift, GHR Foundation is building on its legacy as a leading philanthropy in Alzheimer’s Disease research to support COVID-19 research at this critical time.