Researchers at UTAustin played a leading role in the development of COVID vaccines. Now, some of them have made a discovery that might hold the key to treating not only COVID-19, but all coronaviruses.
Annalee Nguyen and her colleagues at the Maynard Lab at UT Austin's Department of Chemical Engineering hope their research could bring about vaccines or treatments that work for most coronaviruses.
Maynard and her lab began collaborating with Jason McLellan, a UT professor credited as one of the inventors of the technology used in popular COVID vaccines, in 2019. Their work focused on spike proteins, which dot the surface of a coronavirus and help it to fuse with human cells, kicking off an infection.
While experts say the COVID vaccines currently available do a good job against severe cases of the disease, there is room for improvement. “It changes very quickly, which we've seen as the coronavirus sort of evades our own immunity from either vaccination or from getting sick,” Maynard said.This is where the latest research from UT comes in. Maynard’s lab is focused on a different area of the spike protein, a region that’s more stable and less prone to mutation.
Researchers have already identified a type of antibody that attacks the epitope, found in the stem region. So far, the antibodies haven't been able to completely neutralize SARS-CoV-2. However, Nguyen says a vaccine using this method might potentially offer a degree of protection against a whole array of illnesses, making the effects of current and potential coronaviruses less potent.
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