New research: Fridge-free vaccine candidates made from plants & bacteria

In mice, the vaccine candidates triggered high production of neutralising antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the researchers said.

A healthworker prepares shots of a Covid-19 vaccine. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos, File)

Nanoengineers have developed Covid-19 vaccine candidates from plants or bacteria. They are also fridge-free — they do not need to be stored at extremely low temperatures.

The vaccines are still in the early stage of development, the University of California, San Diego said in a press release.

In mice, the vaccine candidates triggered high production of neutralising antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the researchers have reported in a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The researchers created two vaccine candidates. One is made from a plant virus, called cowpea mosaic virus. The other is made from a bacterial virus, or bacteriophage, called Q beta.

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The researchers used cowpea plants and E coli bacteria to grow millions of copies of the plant virus and bacteriophage, respectively, in the form of ball-shaped nanoparticles.

The researchers harvested these nanoparticles and then attached a small piece of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to the surface.

Source: UC, San Diego

First published on: 08-09-2021 at 08:10 IST