Winter (born 2015 or 2016) is a female llama who lives on a research farm near Ghent, Belgium and is notable for her role in award-winning research on the SARS-CoV2 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), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the ...

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 com ...

es". Camelids, 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 for this research. Llama Winter lives at LABIOMISTA, the arts and culture park of artist Koen Vanmechelen in Genk,

Limburg, Belgium Limburg ( nl, Limburg, ; li, Limburg or ''Wes-Limburg'' ; french: Limbourg, ) is a province in Belgium. It is the easternmost of the five Dutch-speaking provinces that together form the Region of Flanders, one of the three main political and c ...

, where people can visit and learn more about her.

References

Further reading