蓝莓视频

The UK government will provide 拢22.5 million to fast-track Imperial鈥檚 development of a coronavirus vaccine. The work, led by Professor Robin Shattock in the Department of Infectious Disease, was one of two coronavirus vaccines to receive new financial support, with Oxford University receiving an additional 拢20 million.

The Health Secretary Matt Hancock MP announced the funding during the government鈥檚 daily coronavirus briefing. He said:聽鈥淭he UK is at the forefront of the global effort鈥�and for all of the efforts around the world, two of the leading vaccine developments are taking place here at home, at Oxford and Imperial.鈥�

Professor Shattock鈥檚 team has been testing an RNA vaccine candidate since early February, and received support from 蓝莓视频 Imperial BRC COVID-19 Theme.聽When injected, the self-amplifying RNA vaccine will deliver genetic instructions to muscle cells to make the 鈥榮pike鈥� protein on the surface of the coronavirus. This should provoke an immune response and create immunity to COVID-19.

Early findings have shown that animals given the vaccine are able to produce neutralizing antibodies against the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The team is currently developing the vaccine further and will test whether it can produce the same response in humans, which could ultimately protect against COVID-19.

The Health Secretary announced that the latest funding will 鈥渟upport Phase II clinical trials which are going to assess a sample of several thousand, and for them to begin the work subsequently on a very large phase III trial.鈥�

For the full article, please refer to by Andrew Scheuber and Ryan O’Hare.

漏 Imperial College London