HKIAS News

HKIAS Senior Fellow Professor George Fu Gao and Chinese scientists engineer protein in universal vaccine quest

Professor George Fu Gao, HKIAS Senior Fellow and Director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and Chinese scientists have created an artificial protein that they say could be the basis of a vaccine to help ward off various deadly coronaviruses, including the pathogen that causes Covid-19. In a peer-reviewed paper published in the scientific journal Cell on 28 June 2020, the research team led by Professor Gao said the approach triggered a strong antibody response in mice and monkey trials to Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) and the Covid-19 coronavirus. According to Professor Gao, the framework of immunogen design can be universally applied to other betacoronavirus vaccines to counter emerging threats.

Source: South China Morning Post