The science behind the search for a COVID-19 vaccine:
Pursuit:
The challenge we face now is that so far no one has been able to produce an effective vaccine against a human coronavirus, and the virus that causes COVID-19 in particular appears to be a real battleship of a virus with many immune-evasion weapons on board.
Here in Australia, we think that the answer to avoiding the immune system getting distracted is maybe to create a vaccine that specifically zeroes-in on that most critical part of the virus needed to block infection.
Professor Damian Purcell from the University of Melbourne and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity outlines the work going on to tether a collection of spikes through their base onto a non-infectious “virus-like particle”, made from a small amount of other virus support proteins.
Read the full story in Pursuit’s special report – The science behind the search for a COVID-19 vaccine.
