IISc Bengaluru comes up with warm vaccine against current strains of SARS-CoV-2
- January 11, 2024
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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IISc Bengaluru comes up with warm vaccine against current strains of SARS-CoV-2
Subject: Science and Tech
Section: Health
In the news:
- A heat-tolerant vaccine developed by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) researchers is said to be effective against all current strains of SARS-CoV-2 besides having the potential to be quickly adapted for future variants as well.
Details:
- Researchers from IISc report the design of a synthetic antigen (RS2 antigen) that can be manufactured as a potential COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
- the RS2 antigen can be stored at room temperature unlike other vaccines which require cold storage. This makes the new vaccine much more economical.
- Since 2000, IISc team has been working on designing several viral vaccines, including those against AIDS and influenza. They have leveraged this expertise to design their current RS2-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate in collaboration with the startup Mynvax, which was, until recently, incubated at IISc.
Development of the new vaccine:
- While current vaccines are proven to be effective against most SARS-CoV-2 strains, their efficacy has declined due to rapid mutation by the virus.
- After analysing various proteins found in the virus, the researchers selected two parts of SARS-CoV-2’s spike protein – the S2 subunit and the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) – for designing their vaccine candidate.
- The S2 subunit is highly conserved. It mutates much less than the S1 subunit, which is the target of most current vaccines.
- The RBD can provoke a strong immune response in the host.
- Therefore, the team created a hybrid protein called RS2 by combining these two components.
- The testing shows that the hybrid protein triggered a strong immune response and provided better protection when compared to vaccines containing the whole spike protein.
Advantage of the new vaccine:
- The vaccine candidate can be tailored to incorporate the RBD region of any new variant of SARS-CoV-2 that might emerge.
- Its high levels of expression and stability at room temperature can greatly reduce production and distribution costs, making it well suited for combating COVID-19.
Source: The Hindu