Winter (born January 16th, 2016) is a female

llama The llama (; or ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a List of meat animals, meat and pack animal by Inca empire, Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with ...

who lives on a research farm near

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

, Belgium and is notable for her role in award-winning research on the

SARS-CoV2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the provisional name 2019 novel coro ...

virus. In 2016 Jason McLellan and Daniel Wrapp chose the nine-month-old Winter as the llama they would inject with stabilized spike proteins from SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV viruses, hoping that she would produce

antibodies An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as bacteria and viruses, including those that caus ...

or the smaller

nanobodies A single-domain antibody (sdAb), also known as a Nanobody, is an antibody fragment consisting of a single monomeric variable antibody domain. Like a whole antibody, it is able to bind selectively to a specific antigen. With a molecular weight of ...

to further their aim "to isolate a single antibody that could neutralize all

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the comm ...

es".

Camelid Camelids are members of the biological family (biology), family Camelidae, the only currently living family in the suborder Tylopoda. The seven extant taxon, extant members of this group are: dromedary, dromedary camels, Bactrian camels, wild Bac ...

s, including llamas, produce

, which are a form of antibody about half the size of human antibodies and are very stable and so can be easily manipulated. When the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 was released in January 2020, scientists worked quickly to test whether any of the antibodies that they had previously isolated against the original SARS-CoV (taken from Winter) could also bind and neutralize SARS-CoV-2. They discovered that one of these nanobodies, which they had characterized using the Argonne National Laboratory's

Advanced Photon Source The Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory (in Lemont, Illinois) is a storage-ring-based high-energy X-ray light source facility. It is one of five X-ray light sources owned and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office ...

, might be effective against SARS-CoV-2. This nanobody — called VHH72 — is now under development as a treatment for COVID-19. Jason McLellan and Daniel Wrapp received a 2020

Golden Goose Award The Golden Goose Award is a United States award in recognition of scientists whose federally funded basic research has led to innovations or inventions with significant impact on humanity or society. Created by Congressman Jim Cooper of Tennessee ...

for this research. Llama Winter lives at LABIOMISTA, the arts and culture park of artist

Koen Vanmechelen Koen Vanmechelen (born August 26, 1965 in Sint-Truiden) is a Belgian artist who began his career in the early 1990s. Central to his work is the concept of bio-cultural diversity, which he investigates through the domestic chicken and its ancestra ...

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

Limburg, Belgium Limburg (, ; or ; , ), also known as Belgian Limburg, is a province in Belgium. It is the easternmost of the five Dutch language, Dutch-speaking provinces that together form the Flemish Region, Region of Flanders, which is one of the three mai ...

, where people can visit and learn more about her.

References

Further reading