The US military joined the race to produce a vaccine for the emerging coronavirus, "SARS Cove 2", which causes Covid 19, after the Russian army did so. In Germany, researchers are seeking to use yeast for this. But will vaccines succeed as the Coronavirus evolves and changes its shape?
The race to produce a new vaccine for Corona is under way all over the world, and there are currently 150 projects around the world to produce a vaccine for the virus, whose number in the world exceeds 7.9 million cases as of Monday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The data also showed that the number of people recovered reached 3.8 million, and the number of deaths exceeded 433 thousand.
We start in the United States, where the Walter Reed Army Research Institute (WRAIR), an Army laboratory, has announced that a new Coronavirus vaccine will enter the human test.
This vaccine is called "SpFN" and is the abbreviation for "Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle". The test in humans will begin as soon as possible this month, after the prototype of the vaccine has been determined to be safe for human trials, Chris Osborne wrote on National Interest.
Mice
The vaccine was first tested in mice, as it was found to stimulate antibody production, according to Terry Welch, director of strategic communications at Walter Reed Research Institute.
We will move to Russia, which plans to start producing a vaccine for the Coronavirus in September, after it receives clinical approval in August.
Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Gulikova said in remarks quoted by the state news agency TASS on Saturday that volunteers were currently undergoing clinical tests.
The Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology announced the vaccine development last May.
According to research director Alexander Ginsburg, the vaccine had no side effects, and he said that institute scientists tested the vaccine on animals and then on themselves.
No study of the vaccine has been published yet, nor have the data made by scientists or government officials been independently confirmed.
The Russian army is currently testing the vaccine for fifty volunteer soldiers at a military research facility in the Moscow region. The test is scheduled to be completed by the end of next July.
Yeast
We move to Germany, where microbiologist Michael Biontec uses yeast cells to develop a vaccine for the Corona virus.
Since he was a student, Beyontek has been experimenting with yeast cells. Depending on the technology, his company ARTES Biotechnology in Langenfeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, supplied the market with a vaccine against hepatitis B.
Since last April, Beyontec has been working with its 25 employees to develop a vaccine against the Corona virus.
Yeast here is just a catalyst, through which Arts can produce protein, which is supposed to produce antibodies in the body against the Coronavirus.
Biontech is seeking to test the animal vaccine this summer, and early human clinical studies can begin at the end of the year.
In the basement of the company there is a sweet smell, here is "soup of agriculture" as Biontech calls it, bubbles in steel and glass bottles.
Genetically modified yeast strains are spread from 15 liters of this soup. In four to five days, one and a half kilos of yeast meet together. "We can then use it to produce 1.5 grams of suitable protein," says Piontech. The quantity appears small at first, but according to your advice, it could be enough to produce 100,000 doses of vaccine.
Hepatitis B vaccine is already produced in India, the United States, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. Given that production is relatively simple, the project owner is sure that he can help ensure supply to all parts of the world.
Will vaccines succeed with the development of the virus?
This is the question, especially after American researchers revealed on Saturday that the emerging corona virus has evolved in a way that makes it more capable of attacking human cells, which a virologist saw behind the rise in the number of cases in the United States and South America.
Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute have detected a mutation of the protruding protein found on the surface of the virus, which helps it enter cells, according to the American Al-Hurra website and Anadolu Agency.
Scientists have found a D614G mutation that gives the virus more of these protrusions and makes them more stable, which in turn facilitates cell adhesion and penetration.
Herion Choi, the virologist who participated in the supervision of the study, revealed that the research concluded that the viruses that experienced this mutation were much more infectious than those that did not.
CNN said that the results of the latest study still need to be reviewed, and more research on the impact of this boom on the course of the pandemic in the world.
But William Hasselten, the virologist and biotechnology businessman who received a copy of the results, said - according to the network - that she explained the cause of the rapid spread of the virus in the Americas, adding that the virus changed, and was able to adapt to humans.
If we make a vaccine, he will try to circumvent it
The world saw that the results show that we must be alert to the constant change in the state of the virus because it is able to respond to everything we do to control it. And if we make a drug that will resist him, or a vaccine he will try to circumvent, and if we stay at home, he will know how to stay longer.
It is noteworthy that scientists have studied the genetic sequence of the virus to track the path of its mutation since its first appearance, and warned of the speed of its spread around the world.
What gives this study the importance of it comes after the World Health Organization announced that the mutations that have been monitored so far will not affect the effectiveness of the vaccines under development.
The organization said earlier that the mutations did not facilitate transmission, or make the virus more capable of causing serious diseases.
Last April, Betty Corper, a researcher at Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, warned of the D614G mutation, saying it was a concern because it had become the most prevalent breed in the country and in Europe.