Scientists at UVA believe they have found the key to creating a universal coronavirus vaccine – Charlottesville Tomorrow

Pigs can be infected by SARS-CoV-2, but they are also susceptible to an entirely different kind of coronavirus. That virus, called porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, is a distant cousin of SARS-CoV-2.

To the scientists shock and delight, their fusion peptide vaccine not only protected the pigs against COVID-19, it also protected them against porcine epidemic diarrhea virus.

That would suggest this same COVID-19 vaccine would protect against all variants, Zeichner said. So, thats what were working on now.

Zeichner didnt set out to create a universal vaccine. His initial project was to develop an inexpensive and easily manufactured one for SARS-CoV-2.

The new mRNA technology that was used to create the [Pfizer and Moderna vaccines] is great, but its a really elaborate technology that is ideally suited to the modern world, he said. Its a really involved production process that can only be done in a few places. We wanted something that was inexpensive and could be made in factories that already exist around the world.

Zeichners lab was already working on a technique to rapidly create these types of inexpensive vaccines when the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year.

His technique utilizes killed whole-cell bacteria something humans have used to create vaccines for decades.

Whats different about Zeichners approach is he uses a special kind of e-coli bacteria that has had most of its genes deleted. With so few genes, the bacteria essentially becomes an empty vessel to carry the vaccine.

From there, Zeichner infuses synthesized DNA of the SARS-CoV-2 virus into the e-coli bacteria to create antigens the things that induce an immune response in the body on the bacterias surface.

Almost immediately, Zeichners team ran into a problem. The part of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that scientists are using to create antigens (the infamous spike protein visible on all COVID-19 pictures and drawings) was too big to fit on the e-coli bacteria.

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Scientists at UVA believe they have found the key to creating a universal coronavirus vaccine - Charlottesville Tomorrow