A new plug-and-play system for boosting the immune system: Introducing messenger RNA in vaccines and explaining his research interests with Hungary’s Karik
So far, of course, this new technology has only been used in the highly effective shots against COVID. But in theory, mRNA vaccines could function as essentially a whole new plug-and-play system: Once a company knows how to make them for one disease, they can pretty quickly and cheaply modify them with mRNA for a totally different disease.
He received a medical degree and a doctorate from Boston University, as well as growing up in Massachusetts. He worked in the lab of Dr. Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, researching the biology of dendritic cells, a key player in starting the immune response. The question of how to boost the human immune system was burning his mind when he arrived at the University of Pennsylvania in 1997.
Then, serendipity stepped in. Weissman was waiting at the Xerox machine for articles to be photocopied, when he bumped into the biochemist,Karik. They began talking about their shared research interest. One person who was convinced of the potential of messenger RNA for human therapies was Hungary’s Karik, a native of Hungary.
Covid-19 Vaccines in the USA and Canada: Where do they come from? Where are they? Countries that can produce their own vaccines
The vaccines have saved millions of lives. Americans have been almost able to return to their normal life after being affected by Covid-19.
China took the right approach and locked down so that they wouldn’t transmit Covid-19. And that worked in the beginning. The problem is that once vaccines became available, China only gave their citizens the vaccines made in their own country. And, honestly, the vaccines that they made were lousy.
An mRNA Covid-19 vaccine supplies the codes for part of the SARS-CoV-2 virus called the spike protein. The ribosomes read the vaccine code and create the spikeProtein from it, causing the body to recognize and create antibodies to it. If there is a real viruses in the system, the body will be able to detect it and build up its own defense against it.
I’m also speaking with institutions that treat genetic diseases that afflict only 200 people. There is only a small population affected and no pharmaceutical company or academics are interested in researching them. But there is potential for RNA to be the key to treatment of these diseases because instead of having to reinvent the gene therapy for each disease, we can use the RNA platform we’ve already developed and easily plug in different diseases. We don’t have to spend $100 million in research to make a new treatment.
Better still, what if these new vaccines could be produced in countries where they are needed the most? These are countries currently so shut out of global vaccine production they were forced to wait last in line for COVID vaccines. These nations will be able to get new vaccines if a new outbreak hits, so they could be in charge of creating them.
Vaccine development in South Africa – Afrigen, Cape Town, a challenge for vaccine developers and scientists – a hive of activity for NPR
Weissman: No, there’s a new institute at the University of Pennsylvania that does all kinds of RNA research. Some diseases, such as muscular diseases, can be caused by incorrect splicing of ourRNA. So, we’re looking at new therapies to correct that splicing problem, which use different types of RNA.
But there are a lot of ways to address that problem. Scientists are not speaking up enough about science. There are large groups of people who think scientists are all frauds and who don’t believe in science, and they’re being cultured by some of our far right-wing politicians, religious leaders and community leaders. We need to get to those leaders and tell them to stop creating this unwarranted fear. We need to tell them that science isn’t the enemy.
The team is racing to complete the first vaccine against COVID that will be a proof of concept for the whole project.
What does the work look like? On a recent visit by NPR, Afrigen’s Cape Town facility – a row of small warehouse-like structures – is a hive of activity.
Jaco says the job feels personal. Like many South Africans he was outraged that people in his country had to wait months for COVID vaccines after the wealthy countries of the world got them.
He’s aware that only 1% of the African continent’s vaccine use is from the vaccines it makes. It’s good to know that we are able to move forward. We can become independent,” he says. “We’ve all bought into the dream.”
Last May, Afrigen finalized a prototype that works in mice. There are clinical trials for humans this summer. But for that Afrigen will need to produce a huge quantity of the vaccine.
And right off the bat they’ve run into this snag: The liquid into which they’ve dissolved the mRNA for the vaccine has these mysterious particles in it.
Weber gets on the computer to see if it’s possible to buy a microscopic filter that could strain out the particles. One option looks particularly good.
Warpaint: Her Lipizzat and There Is a Red To Kill! A Video Talk by Terblanche and Afrigen
Another looming issue: patents. Moderna has said it won’t enforce its patents on COVID vaccines because some of the information that was publicly known about the vaccine was already public.
Terblanche claims that there are some patents that “cplicate our lives.” So she says “we may need to start a process of challenging some of the claims.”
Still, to ensure the company is sustainable, she does need some profit. And Afrigen’s deal with the international funders who backed the mRNA project limits how much it can make from any mRNA vaccines sold in low- and middle-income countries. So Terblanche is also seeking partners to help develop vaccines aimed at wealthy countries for diseases that affect them.
A video conference with someone else. She grabs a sheaf of papers – and another essential: “Warpaint!” She calls it her lipstick. There is a tomato red.