Arrowhead-based DNA lab at NMSU steps up to help with COVID-19 antibody testing
Stefan Long, the chief operating officer of Vanguard Genetics and Alliance DNA Laboratory, shows off the antibody testing facility on the campus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces on Friday, June 14, 2020. [Nathan Fish / Las Cruces Sun-News]
LAS CRUCES – I have never contracted COVID-19, apparently.
On Friday, June 12, I tested negative for antibodies — which the human body typically begin to produce within eight to 13 days of contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Given all the media coverage, one might think that I’d know if I had been infected — but that’s not necessarily the case, according to Stefan “Steve” Long, the chief operating officer of Vanguard Genetics.
Vanguard, located on the campus of New Mexico State University at 3655 Research Road, Building B, is now among a relatively small number of laboratories in the United States testing for COVID-19 antibodies. As of May 7, the laboratory was utilizing one of only 12 tests authorized by the Food and Drug Administration under Emergency Use Authorization.
On Friday, I tested negative for the presence of both IgM and IgG antibodies — which are indicative of both past and present infection.
Las Cruces Sun-News reporter Damien Willis' blood is tested for COVID-19 at Vanguard Genetics and Alliance DNA Laboratory on the campus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces on Friday, June 14, 2020. Willis tested negative for the COVID-19 antibodies. [Nathan Fish / Las Cruces Sun-News]
Arrowhead-based business steps up
“In March, this room was empty,” said Long, chief operating officer at Vanguard Genetics and Alliance DNA Laboratory. He was standing in a makeshift lab inside the facility where my blood sample had just been processed and yielded negative results.
The Arrowhead-based company, which began as a public-private partnership with the university under the tenure of former-NMSU President Garrey Carruthers in 2015, grew out of the university's Genetics and Biotechnology program, where Long once worked.
“Early on, we got to thinking, ‘what are we doing to help?’” Long said.
So Long called up Ryan Janeway, the company’s president and CEO in Oregon, to discuss the role the laboratory could play in finding a solution to the COVID-19 crisis.
Stefan Long, the chief operating officer of Vanguard Genetics and Alliance DNA Laboratory, is pictured at the facility on the campus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces on Friday, June 14, 2020. [Nathan Fish / Las Cruces Sun-News]
“You know, we have this lab space. We have the full support of the university, which has just been spectacular," Long said. "Let’s start reaching out and find out what we can do — since this is what we do for a living. We have an accredited facility; we’re accredited with blood banks and A2LA (and all of the necessary accreditations). I’ve been the director of CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) facilities. We’ve got all of the pieces in place. What can we do to help?”
It was Janeway who suggested antibody testing — but Long was initially skeptical. It was still fairly early in the pandemic, information was changing rapidly, and he wasn’t confident they could find a suitable and reliable test.
“We needed something simple — something we could take to the areas in New Mexico that are being hardest hit," Long explained. "Nearly 55 percent of our cases are on the Navajo Nation.”
That would come later.
Stefan Long, the chief operating officer of Vanguard Genetics and Alliance DNA Laboratory, shows a portable testing kit that tests for COVID-19 antibodies in his laboratory on the campus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces on Friday, June 14, 2020. [Nathan Fish / Las Cruces Sun-News]
Ultimately, Vanguard adopted a test from ChemBio Diagnostic System — one of the first four rapid-detection tests approved by the FDA under an Emergency Use Authorization.
Long began making phone calls to public health officials around the state. Eventually, he reached a retired Department of Health official who seemed eager to help coordinate a response.
“I called (Janeway) and said, ‘I think there’s a need for (the antibody testing).,'" he said. "'The investment is huge; it’s a lot of money. We really need to think this through, and whether were going to try to make a profit, or just do the best price we can to help the most amount of people.’ At the end of the day, that won out. We just wanted to help people.”
The Alliance DNA Laboratory, which would continue to provide its full array of DNA services, would serve as the money-making side of the operation, enabling Vanguard to keep antibody testing prices low, Long explained.
“Once we got going, it literally took me one week to set the lab up,” Long said. “The New Mexico Department of Health approved me as a director, based on past performance. Within 48 hours, I was able to get a certificate to operate the laboratory.”
By the end of April, Vanguard was doing antibody testing in Las Cruces — and, in many cases, offering same-day results for local first responders.
Because the symptoms of COVID-19 can vary widely, Long said that many people who test positive for the COVID-19 antibodies never felt particularly sick.
A blood sample from Las Cruces Sun-News reporter Damien Willis is tested for COVID-19 at Vanguard Genetics and Alliance DNA Laboratory on the campus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces on Friday, June 14, 2020. [Nathan Fish / Las Cruces Sun-News]
Shortly after Vanguard began conducting antibody testing, a local nurse came into the lab, Long said.
“She came in and said, ‘I have been praying all night that I’m positive,’” he explained. “I said, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ And she said, ‘No. I know I’ve had this. I know I have antibodies and I want to give them to my coworkers so they don’t get it, because it was awful.’ And, sure enough, she was positive.”
The nurse was referring to convalescent plasma therapy — the practice of taking antibodies present in the plasma of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 and injecting them into people who have not yet contracted the virus or to those who have COVID-19 but are not yet producing an adequate supply of antibodies to fight it off.
According to the American Society of Hematology, convalescent plasma transfusion appears safe — as more than 7,000 units have been transfused to more than 5,000 patients to date in the U.S. And there’s growing evidence that it’s effective, too. Early this month, the University of Texas released the results of the country’s first peer-reviewed study of convalescent plasma therapy, which showed 19 out of 25 patients improving, including 11 discharged from the hospital.
But a few days after receiving her results, the nurse was back in Long’s office.
“She said, ‘I’ve tried everywhere, and no one will take my plasma,’” Long recalled. He began calling around, on her behalf, “and there was nowhere for her to go.”
So he put her in touch with an El Paso television station, in hopes of helping bring attention to the issue. It worked. Within a week, there was a mechanism in place for her to donate her plasma.
“She doesn’t want to be identified, but she’s a hero in my book,” Long said. “Now there’s a protocol in place for others in Las Cruces who have recovered and want to donate their plasma.”
Now, the nurse is able to donate plasma once a week — donating enough of the antibodies to potentially help four others.
Stefan Long, the chief operating officer of Vanguard Genetics and Alliance DNA Laboratory, displays an antibody testing machine at his laboratory on the campus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces on Friday, June 14, 2020. [Nathan Fish / Las Cruces Sun-News]
“I’m now working with a retired Department of Health official from Albuquerque who is very well-respected in his field,” Long said.
As we sat in his office at Alliance, a box from ChemBio sat on his desk. Inside were two little blocks — a battery-operated field test for COVID-19 antibodies. He hopes to put them to use on the Navajo Nation soon.
“He’s trying to set up a meeting with the Tribal Council,” Long explained. “Our objective is to get a plasma bank set up just for the Navajo Nation, and to do it with volunteers and donations. We think it could provide them with a really good picture of who has protective antibodies, who may have an active infection — and kind of quarantine those folks.”
The field test allows the company to take the same level of technology available in the lab to remote locations, test for COVID-19 antibodies and provide results relatively quickly.
“It’s a pretty amazing little unit,” Long said.
It should be noted that testing for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies should not be used as the sole diagnosis for active infections and — as with any tests — false negatives are possible. Additionally, if you are tested early in your illness and have not yet had time to develop antibodies, you might test negative. Also, the tests developed by ChemBio are not approved by the FDA as the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is new and no tests have yet undergone the rigorous process required for approval. Instead, the test is made available under an Emergency Use Authorization.
Those whose test results indicate an active infection should follow up with a health care provider for a polymerise chain reaction (PCR) screening — the “gold standard” for active infection screening.
Those wishing to learn more about Vanguard Genetics and the testing services they provide can visit https://www.alliancedna.com/antibody/ or email covid19@alliancedna.com.
For the latest information on COVID-19, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at https://www.cdc.gov/COVID19.
Damien Willis is a reporter and columnist for the Las Cruces Sun-News. His biweekly column focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in Las Cruces and around the region. Have a story to share? Contact him at dwillis@lcsun-news.com or @DamienWillis on Twitter.
This story originally appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News on June 15, 2020.
