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Wednesday, February 26, 2020 9:35:50 PM
Coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine days away from animal testing, Queensland researchers believe
"Trump’s flailing incompetence makes coronavirus even scarier
America’s pandemic response capabilities have been systematically dismantled."
By Baz Ruddick Posted Sat at 5:27pm
Photo: UQ researchers conduct experiments to design a coronavirus vaccine.
(Supplied: The University of Queensland)
Related Story: Chinese high school students can return to Australia under strict travel ban exemptions
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-22/coronavirus-ban-lifted-students-travel-china-to-australia/11991292
Related Story: Race is on as Australian researchers rush to make coronavirus vaccine
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-24/coronavirus-vaccine-work-starts-with-queensland-researchers/11896346
Related Story: 'We got it': The game-changing moment when this Australian lab copied coronavirus
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-29/wuhan-coronavirus-created-in-australian-lab-outside-of-china/11906390
Researchers at the University of Queensland (UQ) have said they are just days
away from testing a new vaccine for coronavirus, or COVID-19, on animals.
Key points:
* The UQ team's vaccine will undergo animal studies within the next week
* This will be followed by CSIRO testing in Victoria
* Their efforts are part of a worldwide race to develop a coronavirus vaccine
Paul Young, head of the university's School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, said a team of 20 UQ scientists had been working around the clock to speed up the vaccine building process since the outbreak of the virus.
Researchers from UQ were funded by an international organisation called the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) to use new rapid medical development technology to help create a vaccine for the new virus strain.
[Insert: US underprepared for coronavirus due to Trump cuts, say health experts
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/31/us-coronavirus-budget-cuts-trump-underprepared ]
This followed the breakthrough by Australian scientists in developing a lab-grown version of the disease ..
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-29/wuhan-coronavirus-created-in-australian-lab-outside-of-china/11906390 .
The UQ team is part of a race by labs worldwide to develop a vaccine ..
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-24/coronavirus-vaccine-work-starts-with-queensland-researchers/11896346 .
[photo]
"It started back when China released the sequence back in late January. That gave us the viral genome we needed to take and express," Dr Young said.
"A key milestone is actually generating the vaccine prior to putting it into animal studies.
"We will be going into our first animal studies at the University of Queensland this week, to be followed not long after [by] studies at the Australian Animal Health laboratories at the CSIRO in Geelong."
Dr Young said while the UQ work was groundbreaking, it was hard to say if it was the world's first vaccine developed for coronavirus.
He said there are multiple versions of vaccines and a variety of approaches that can all be as effective as each other.
Video: The ABC's cameras were there the moment when Australian scientists discovered they had copied coronavirus (ABC News)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-29/australian-scientists-re-create-wuhan-coronavirus/11908182
"The best thing that can happen is happening now — that is, there is a wide number of groups working toward vaccine approaches, and quite frankly the first one that gets there it will be great," Dr Young said.
"It is not a race between vaccine producers, it is a race against this particular virus.
"It is a new territory for vaccine design. Vaccines take many years to develop from concept to licence and use in the community.
"What we are aiming for is somewhere between 12 and 18 months, which is remarkably quick."
Dr Young said the UQ team had developed 100 different versions of a protein to work out which would be most effective against the virus.
He said they now planned to conduct pre-clinical trials (including animal testing) and hoped to undertake human trials by the middle of the year.
"Those trials are testing that the vaccine actually induces the immune response we are expecting to start manufacturing in levels that are high enough and in a pure enough state such that we can put them into humans, " he said.
Dr Young said the team was already working on a rapid response to potential global disease outbreaks.
After completing animal studies, he said they would send the vaccine to the CSIRO for further testing.
"It has been significantly more challenging than we thought," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-22/coronavirus-vaccine-animal-testing-days-away-uq-researchers/11991456
That last comment must have been thought by many world leaders after meeting with Trump. And not in a positive way.
See also:
COVFEFE-19 The struggle is real. Give a creationist the responsibility to contain a rapid acting mutation-prone virus, what could possibly go wrong?
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=154040902
"Trump’s flailing incompetence makes coronavirus even scarier
America’s pandemic response capabilities have been systematically dismantled."
By Baz Ruddick Posted Sat at 5:27pm
Photo: UQ researchers conduct experiments to design a coronavirus vaccine.
(Supplied: The University of Queensland)
Related Story: Chinese high school students can return to Australia under strict travel ban exemptions
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-22/coronavirus-ban-lifted-students-travel-china-to-australia/11991292
Related Story: Race is on as Australian researchers rush to make coronavirus vaccine
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-24/coronavirus-vaccine-work-starts-with-queensland-researchers/11896346
Related Story: 'We got it': The game-changing moment when this Australian lab copied coronavirus
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-29/wuhan-coronavirus-created-in-australian-lab-outside-of-china/11906390
Researchers at the University of Queensland (UQ) have said they are just days
away from testing a new vaccine for coronavirus, or COVID-19, on animals.
Key points:
* The UQ team's vaccine will undergo animal studies within the next week
* This will be followed by CSIRO testing in Victoria
* Their efforts are part of a worldwide race to develop a coronavirus vaccine
Paul Young, head of the university's School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, said a team of 20 UQ scientists had been working around the clock to speed up the vaccine building process since the outbreak of the virus.
Researchers from UQ were funded by an international organisation called the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) to use new rapid medical development technology to help create a vaccine for the new virus strain.
[Insert: US underprepared for coronavirus due to Trump cuts, say health experts
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/31/us-coronavirus-budget-cuts-trump-underprepared ]
This followed the breakthrough by Australian scientists in developing a lab-grown version of the disease ..
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-29/wuhan-coronavirus-created-in-australian-lab-outside-of-china/11906390 .
The UQ team is part of a race by labs worldwide to develop a vaccine ..
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-24/coronavirus-vaccine-work-starts-with-queensland-researchers/11896346 .
[photo]
"It started back when China released the sequence back in late January. That gave us the viral genome we needed to take and express," Dr Young said.
"A key milestone is actually generating the vaccine prior to putting it into animal studies.
"We will be going into our first animal studies at the University of Queensland this week, to be followed not long after [by] studies at the Australian Animal Health laboratories at the CSIRO in Geelong."
Dr Young said while the UQ work was groundbreaking, it was hard to say if it was the world's first vaccine developed for coronavirus.
He said there are multiple versions of vaccines and a variety of approaches that can all be as effective as each other.
Video: The ABC's cameras were there the moment when Australian scientists discovered they had copied coronavirus (ABC News)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-29/australian-scientists-re-create-wuhan-coronavirus/11908182
"The best thing that can happen is happening now — that is, there is a wide number of groups working toward vaccine approaches, and quite frankly the first one that gets there it will be great," Dr Young said.
"It is not a race between vaccine producers, it is a race against this particular virus.
"It is a new territory for vaccine design. Vaccines take many years to develop from concept to licence and use in the community.
"What we are aiming for is somewhere between 12 and 18 months, which is remarkably quick."
Dr Young said the UQ team had developed 100 different versions of a protein to work out which would be most effective against the virus.
He said they now planned to conduct pre-clinical trials (including animal testing) and hoped to undertake human trials by the middle of the year.
"Those trials are testing that the vaccine actually induces the immune response we are expecting to start manufacturing in levels that are high enough and in a pure enough state such that we can put them into humans, " he said.
Dr Young said the team was already working on a rapid response to potential global disease outbreaks.
After completing animal studies, he said they would send the vaccine to the CSIRO for further testing.
"It has been significantly more challenging than we thought," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-22/coronavirus-vaccine-animal-testing-days-away-uq-researchers/11991456
That last comment must have been thought by many world leaders after meeting with Trump. And not in a positive way.
See also:
COVFEFE-19 The struggle is real. Give a creationist the responsibility to contain a rapid acting mutation-prone virus, what could possibly go wrong?
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=154040902
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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