Dear Colleges,

I am head of the research group on Molecular Studies and Experimental Therapy, based in the Department of Genetics, Federal University of Pernambuco, located in the Northeast region of Brazil. My group, until 2019, had as main focus the cancers related to HPV. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, we were requested, by the municipal and state governments, to participate in facing this disease.

In this sense, we redirected our line of research to work with SARS-CoV-2. We intend to use our skills to develop studies of COVID-19 and vaccine strategies. However, we face the difficulty that this virus needs level 3 laboratory safety. We only have a level 3 Lab, and it is overloaded.

In an attempt to find a way out of this difficulty, I thought of producing Pseudotyped Vesicular Stomatitis Virus for Analysis SARS-CoV-2.

In this way, I would like to know if any colleague could kindly send me the plasmids necessary for this development accompanied by the protocols, if possible.

I await a response from the community in the hope that this contribution will be possible.

Regards,

Dr. Antonio Carlos de Freitas