Stanford single-dose nanoparticle vaccine for COVID-19.

[2greys]

Before the pandemic, the lab of Stanford University biochemist Peter S. Kim focused on developing vaccines for HIV, Ebola and pandemic influenza. But, within days of closing their campus lab space as part of COVID-19 precautions, they turned their attention to a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Although the coronavirus was outside the lab’s specific area of expertise, they and their collaborators have managed to construct and test a promising vaccine candidate.

“Our goal is to make a single-shot vaccine that does not require a cold-chain for storage or transport. If we’re successful at doing it well, it should be cheap too,” said Kim, who is the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Biochemistry. “The target population for our vaccine is low- and middle-income countries.”

Their vaccine, detailed in a paper published Jan. 5 in ACS Central Science, contains nanoparticles studded with the same proteins that comprise the virus’s distinctive surface spikes. In addition to being the reason why these are called coronaviruses – corona is Latin for “crown” – these spikes facilitate infection by fusing to a host cell and creating a passageway for the viral genome to enter and hijack the cell’s machinery to produce more viruses. The spikes can also be used as antigens, which means their presence in the body is what can trigger an immune response.

news.stanford.edu/2021/01/0...

ACS Publications. Research Paper:

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac...

[peege]

Interesting 2g, fingers crossed eh. As a matter of interest my nephew Matt in USA had his 1st vaccination today. He's in his 40s, works in a large private hospital in Chicago (or Detroit I forget), I dont think he's even patient facing as a finance director!

[watergazer]

Let's hope it around soon to be used. I was wondering the other day about people in the U.S.A and other countries with only private health care- will they have to pay for their vaccines and what about those without a healthcare plan?