SPECIAL FEATURES OF VACCINE DEVELOPED BY CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY - IT NOT JUST FIGHTS COVID19!

The University of Cambridge on Wednesday announced that it is planning to begin trials of a potential new vaccine that will not only fight COVID-19 but will also fight all coronaviruses that might come in future. 

Cambridge University’s new vaccine candidateDIOS-CoVax2 will be using the banks of genetic sequences of all the known coronaviruses, including the ones from bats. The vaccine will be injected in a pain- free method without usage of needle but will rather be done through a spring- powered jet injection.

"Our approach involves 3D computer modelling of the SARS-CoV-2 [Covid-19] virus' structure. It uses information on the virus itself as well as its relatives - SARS, MERS and other coronaviruses carried by animals that threaten to 'spill-over' to humans again to cause future human epidemics," Professor Jonathan Heeney, head of the Laboratory of Viral Zoonotics at the University of Cambridge, and founder of DIOSynVax - a Cambridge spin-out company told the media.

"We're looking for chinks in its armour, crucial pieces of the virus that we can use to construct the vaccine to direct the immune response in the right direction. Ultimately, we aim to make a vaccine that will not only protect from SARS-CoV-2, but also other related coronaviruses that may spill over from animals to humans," he added.

The team has already developed libraries of computer- generated antigen structures which are encoded by synthetic genes. These genes can train human immune system to target areas where the virus is dominant in our body and can produce anti- viral responses. The immune responses include neutralizing antibodies and T- cells. 

The method is being hailed as a laser- specific computer-generated approach which is likely to avoid consequences such as hyper- inflammatory immune responses.

“DIOS-CoVax2, which hopes to go into human trials by later this year, is the latest vaccine candidate to be backed by the UK government with 1.9 million pounds in funding as part of a collaboration between DIOSynVax, which is contributing an additional 400,000 pounds to the trial, the University of Cambridge and the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust,” India Today reported.