Australia could be one step closer to a coronavirus vaccine breakthrough.
A new vaccine developed by University of Queensland researchers will soon be tested on the live virus for the first time in a biosecurity facility in the Netherlands.
The School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences team has joined forces with Dutch company Viroclinics Xplore to conduct pre-clinical studies to get a better understanding of how the vaccine performs before it’s tested on humans.
It comes as testing of another potential coronavirus vaccine began at the CSIRO lab in regional Victoria last week.
As a service organisation, we have committed to realigning our resources, equipment and materials to initiatives to test promising vaccines, anti-virals and immune modulators in the battle against COVID-19 and we have developed a number of preclinical models of COVID-19 infection,’ Viroclinics spokesperson Dr Koert Stittelaar said.
The vaccine was developed usinng molecular clamp technology that locks the ‘spike’ protein into a shape which allows the immune system to be able to recognise and then neutralise the virus.
The researchers announced earlier this year it hopes to develop the vaccine within six months through its recently invented rapid response technology. Read More.
