Phys.org July 5, 2022
An international team of researchers (USA – Caltech, NIAID, University of Washington, Stanford, industry, the Rockefeller University, UK) chose eight different SARS-like betacoronaviruses—including SARS-CoV-2 along with seven related animal viruses that could have potential to start a pandemic in humans—and attached fragments from those eight viruses onto the nanoparticle scaffold. The idea was that such a vaccine could induce the body to produce antibodies that broadly recognize SARS-like betacoronaviruses to fight off variants in addition to those presented on the nanoparticle by targeting common characteristics of viral RBDs. In mice, antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 RBD were elicited just as well by mosaic particles as by homotypic nanoparticles. The mosaic nanoparticles elicited antibodies that, beyond recognizing the strains displayed, also recognized mismatched strains…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE 1 , 2Â
This infographic illustrates the new vaccine… Credit: Wellcome Leap, Caltech, Merkin Institute.