LANSING, Mich. — Most experts agree that we'll have to keep wearing masks in many places until there is a coronavirus vaccine. Dan Grossman met researchers studying how the coronavirus mutates because that could play a huge role in the effectiveness of any vaccine.
The contents of a lab in Tempe, Arizona are so dangerous, so critical “everyone is coming in blind to this. This is a novel virus. this isn’t something we have seen before.”the only way we can speak to Assistant Professor Efrem Lim is through zoom - even though he is only a few doors away.
“One of the things we’re still keeping an eye on is the evolution of this virus because that virus is still around in the community.”
In March, that community at Arizona State University played host to our country’s fourth COVID-19 case. As soon as it was detected Dr. Lim started studying how the virus mutates and sent his findings to the World Health Organization - something that still continues to this day.
“This virus, overall, mutates pretty slowly, which is a good thing. However, we can have instances where the virus can have very large, dramatic, mutations, such as deletions in the genome."
Like all living cells, as viruses evolve their chemical make-up changes. in viruses like the flu that happens frequently, which is why every year there is a new vaccine to treat whatever strain is expected to circulate.
With COVID-19 - Dr. Lim found those mutations happen slower “overall, the virus still seems to be pretty stable” which is great for scientists like Dr. Brenda Hogue who has been one of the country’s leading virologists tasked with developing a vaccine.
“It is very good news that the virus is not changing rapidly, especially in the region of the protein that is the primary target - the spike protein - for vaccine development.
”The spike proteins are those long stalks that make COVID-19 so recognizable. It is how the virus binds to our cells and infects them. The current vaccine being developed focuses on disrupting that process - but that could change if the virus adapts once a vaccine is introduced.
“We will have to see over time, as the virus continues to circulate, as we put a vaccine into play, whether or not there will be any issues” precisely what Dr. Lim’s lab will continue to work on so when a vaccine does come out it works to its fullest capacity.
“We are still in a very good window for whatever we are designing and what we have in the pipeline right now, should be really effective.”
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