This nanoparticle could be the key to a universal covid vaccine

The mosaic nanoparticle has so many different viral fragments that it's the key to the vaccine. The B cells of the immune system are likely to find and bind to some of the conserved pieces of the virus. The B cells will be able to fight the previously unseen variant.

Cohen, Bjorkman, and their partners chose the coronaviruses that were identified by other research groups and detailed in the scientific literature to make their mosaic nanoparticles. The viruses that caused the first SARS outbreak and the one that causes covid-19 were included in the list. They also added a coronaviruses found in a pangolin to the mix. The strains all share the same genetic material and have been genetically mapped. Cohen and Bjorkman could be certain that at least some portions of each distinct spikeProtein they chose to place on the exterior of their nanoparticle would be shared by some of the other Viruses.

They made vaccine. One had all the slots occupied by particles taken from a single strain of the disease. The other two were mosaics, each showing a mix of fragments from eight different strains of the coronaviruses. The researchers were able to test the vaccine's effectiveness against the remaining strains.

The vaccine bound well to the covid-19 virus in mouse studies. When Cohen looked at his results, he was surprised to see how much more powerful the mosaic nanoparticles were when exposed to different strains of coronaviruses.

In other words, the vaccine triggered the production of armies of antibodies to attack the parts of the coronaviruses that are not different from one another.

New era

The vaccine has been tested in animals as well as humans. It seems like it's working so far, because some of the experiments had to be done by overseas partners. The paper got a lot of attention when it was published in Science.

The case of Caltech.

There are other promising efforts. Neil King is a biochemist at the University of Washington who designs hundreds of new types of nanoparticles by sculpting them atom by atom. Barney Graham at the National Institute of Health was the first to show that mosaic nanoparticles could be used to fight flu. King, Graham, and others formed a company to modify and develop the technique and have a vaccine. The new technology is being put to use against a variety of different Viruses.

Bjorkman warns that her vaccine won't protect us from all coronaviruses There are four different families of coronaviruses that target different parts of the body. There are fewer sites that are related to coronaviruses. A universal vaccine for the sarbecoviruses is the focus of the vaccine from her lab