Tackling his third pandemic, UAB researcher gets up close with coronaviruses in order to kill them

Written by 

Editor's Note: The information published in this story is accurate at the time of publication. Always refer to uab.edu/uabunited for UAB's current guidelines and recommendations relating to COVID-19.

Kevin HarrodDuring the first SARS outbreak in 2003, Kevin Harrod, Ph.D., directed experimental model testing of candidate vaccines. Within three weeks of the first cases of H1N1 swine flu appearing in the United States in 2009, "we had the virus in my lab and NIH contracts to work on research," he said. "I've been down this path before and know what it takes to get these things started."In early 2020, soon after it became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic was a serious threat to humanity, Kevin Harrod, Ph.D., UAB's resident expert on SARS viruses, got a message from Matt Might, Ph.D., director of the university's Precision Medicine Institute. "If we computationally predict drugs, can you test them?" Might wanted to know. "I said sure," Harrod said.

Testing drugs on SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, requires more than a few petri dishes. Harrod's lab operates at biosafety level 3, with scientists wearing full body personal protective equipment (PPE) that include their own air supplies. “Just putting it on and taking it off is an adventure in itself,” said Harrod, professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine. “You have to be especially careful when taking it off to not touch the outside. There’s a bit of a gymnastics aspect.”

This is Harrod’s third pandemic. During the first SARS outbreak in 2003, Harrod directed experimental model testing of candidate vaccines. Within three weeks of the first cases of H1N1 swine flu appearing in the United States in 2009, "we had the virus in my lab and NIH contracts to work on research," he said. "I've been down this path before and know what it takes to get these things started."

Ritesh Sevalkar and Kevin HarrodRitesh Sevalkar, Ph.D., and Harrod discuss next steps for sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 virus. "There has been a great deal of camaraderie and collaboration at the School of Medicine," Harrod said. "Everyone is bringing their level of expertise to bear. That is one ancillary benefit of these tough times."

That is why Harrod received one of 14 pilot grants from the $1.1 million Urgent COVID-19 Clinical Research and Laboratory Research Fund, established by UAB through philanthropic giving and funding from Might's Precision Medicine Institute. But the PMI is providing more than money, Harrod noted. "This grant is really built on a team of computationalists who use artificial intelligence approaches to identify drugs that are already FDA-approved and can be repurposed,” he said.

"This grant is really built on a team of computationalists who use artificial intelligence approaches to identify drugs that are already FDA-approved and can be repurposed.”

"Scientists will probably figure out whole new drugs to treat COVID-19, but that will take years. This pandemic will probably be gone by then. We said, What can we do now?"

Harrod provides the biological validation of the drug candidates identified by the team from PMI. Before researchers can figure out how to kill SARS-CoV-2, Harrod and his team had to figure out how to grow it. "Some viruses are hard to grow in the lab, but we had our practice with the first SARS 17 years ago,” he said. “We used many of the same methods and lo and behold they worked well." The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caught Harrod between grants as he was building up to work on influenza. Adrie Steyn, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Microbiology, has a team working on tuberculosis, which also requires biosafety level 3 precautions. "He said, if you need people, my team is ready to help," Harrod said. "There has been a great deal of camaraderie and collaboration at the School of Medicine. Everyone is bringing their level of expertise to bear. That is one ancillary benefit of these tough times."

rep harrod lab microscope 1000px lexicoon creditHarrod uses an inverted phase contrast microscope to examine Vero E6 cells that will be used in SARS-CoV-2 drug screening.

In addition to supporting UAB research efforts, Harrod's lab is serving the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is the federal agency charged with developing countermeasures against COVID-19. "We're providing the virology support," Harrod said. "We grow the viruses, measure them and provide them to the BARDA contractor."

Harrod has already begun to unleash compounds identified by PMI on viral cultures in the lab. "We have a three-tier screen that we work through," moving through a range of cell types, ending with human lung cells, he said. Steven Rowe, M.D., professor and director of the Cystic Fibrosis Research Center at UAB, is working to develop animal models of COVID-19, something he has pioneered for cystic fibrosis. Rowe’s team is also growing the human lung cells that Harrod tests in his biocontainment lab.

rep harrod lab cooler 1000px lexicoon credit

"We have as many as 15 drugs that have been identified and there are going to be candidates that are worthy of consideration" for human testing, Harrod said. "The beauty is these are all FDA-approved drugs so they could be mobilized really quickly."



Read more on UAB's urgent COVID-19 research projects

Glow-in-the-dark coronavirus testing is first project of new hire

Glow-in-the-dark coronavirus testing is first project of new hire

New microbiology faculty member Nicholas Lennemann, Ph.D., is transforming the fluorescent virus assay he developed into a new tool against coronavirus in work supported through UAB’s urgent COVID-19 research fund.

Read more

Researchers model COVID-19 infection in 3D human lung tissue

Researchers model COVID-19 infection in 3D human lung tissue

Bioreactors built to offer new insights on lung cancer are being adapted to study coronavirus infection and test new treatments in this project supported through UAB’s urgent COVID-19 research fund.

Read more

Researchers are creating a coronavirus showdown to settle pressing antibody problems

Researchers are creating a coronavirus showdown to settle pressing antibody problems

Microbiologists Troy Randall, Ph.D., and Frances Lund, Ph.D., are building key proteins from several coronaviruses to study antibody cross-reactivity and other crucial questions in this project supported through UAB’s urgent COVID-19 research fund.

Read more

Where are the good antibodies against COVID-19? UAB project aims to find out

Where are the good antibodies against COVID-19? UAB project aims to find out

Professor Randall Davis, M.D., aims to identify antibodies that block SARS-CoV-2 from entering human cells — information that could guide convalescent plasma therapy and more.

Read more

Helpful viruses may unlock the secrets of coronavirus antibodies

Helpful viruses may unlock the secrets of coronavirus antibodies

Assistant Professor Benjamin Larimer, Ph.D., adapts his lab’s work on phage display — normally used to identify new cancer treatments — to overcome limitations of antibody and vaccine testing.

Read more

Cytokine storm treatment for coronavirus patients is focus of first-in-US study

Cytokine storm treatment for coronavirus patients is focus of first-in-US study

A trial to rapidly identify and treat the immune overreaction that may be behind some cases of severe COVID-19 is made possible through UAB Medicine’s Urgent COVID-19 Clinical Research and Laboratory Research Fund.

Read more

Springing into action: The urgent COVID-19 research fund at UAB

Springing into action: The urgent COVID-19 research fund at UAB

Everyone was fast this spring: the businesses that contributed to the fund, the scientists and physicians who crafted research proposals, and the senior School of Medicine researchers who chose which proposals got money.

Read more