Immune-focused RBD nanoparticles induce cross-reactive, RBS-directed responses capable of variant-resistant SARS-CoV-2 neutralization

Kylie M. Konrath; Kevin Liaw; Nicholas J. Tursi; Madison E. McCanna; Bryce M. Warner; Ebony N. Gary; Xizhou Zhu; Cory Livingston; Cara Monastra; Drew Frase; Neethu Chokkalingam; Alana Huynh; Nicholas Shupin; Kelly Bayruns; Sinja Kriete; Amber Kim; Joyce Park; Robert Vendramelli; Thang Truong; Kevin Tierney; Kimberly Azaransky; Estella Moffat; Carissa Embury-Hyatt; Lynn A. Beer; Oreoluwa Solanke; Susanne N. Walker; Richa Kalia; Hsin-Yao Tang; Laurent M.P.F. Humeau; Trevor R.F. Smith; Darwyn Kobasa; David B. Weiner; Daniel W. Kulp

doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1013905

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Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Immune-focused RBD nanoparticles induce cross-reactive, RBS-directed responses capable of variant-resistant SARS-CoV-2 neutralization

Kylie M. Konrath ,

Contributed equally to this work with: Kylie M. Konrath, Kevin Liaw

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Kevin Liaw ,

Contributed equally to this work with: Kylie M. Konrath, Kevin Liaw

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Nicholas J. Tursi,

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation

Affiliations Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Madison E. McCanna,

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Bryce M. Warner,

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation

Affiliations Special Pathogens Program, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Canada, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
⨯
Ebony N. Gary,

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Xizhou Zhu,

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Cory Livingston,

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Cara Monastra,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Drew Frase,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Neethu Chokkalingam,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Alana Huynh,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Nicholas Shupin,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Kelly Bayruns,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Sinja Kriete,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Amber Kim,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Joyce Park,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Robert Vendramelli,

Roles Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Validation

Affiliation Special Pathogens Program, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Canada
⨯
Thang Truong,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Special Pathogens Program, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Canada
⨯
Kevin Tierney,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Special Pathogens Program, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Canada
⨯
Kimberly Azaransky,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Special Pathogens Program, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Canada
⨯
Estella Moffat,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation National Center for Foreign Animal Disease (NCFAD), Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Winnipeg, Canada
⨯
Carissa Embury-Hyatt,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation National Center for Foreign Animal Disease (NCFAD), Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Winnipeg, Canada
⨯
Lynn A. Beer,

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Validation

Affiliation Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Oreoluwa Solanke,

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Susanne N. Walker,

Roles Investigation, Resources, Validation

Affiliation Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Richa Kalia,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Hsin-Yao Tang,

Roles Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Validation

Affiliation Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Laurent M.P.F. Humeau,

Roles Investigation, Supervision, Validation

Affiliation Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Trevor R.F. Smith,

Roles Investigation, Validation

Affiliation Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
Darwyn Kobasa,

Roles Supervision

Affiliation Special Pathogens Program, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Canada
⨯
David B. Weiner ,

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: dweiner@wistar.org (DBW); Daniel.Kulp@modernatx.com (DWK)

Affiliations Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
⨯
[ ... ],
Daniel W. Kulp

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: dweiner@wistar.org (DBW); Daniel.Kulp@modernatx.com (DWK)

Current address: Moderna, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Affiliations Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0527-3804

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Immune-focused RBD nanoparticles induce cross-reactive, RBS-directed responses capable of variant-resistant SARS-CoV-2 neutralization

Kylie M. Konrath,
Kevin Liaw,
Nicholas J. Tursi,
Madison E. McCanna,
Bryce M. Warner,
Ebony N. Gary,
Xizhou Zhu,
Cory Livingston,
Cara Monastra,
Drew Frase

Published: February 19, 2026
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1013905

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