Coronavirus vaccine development

[patnicholson]

i'm wanting to know what 's been (and being done ) as concerns the vaccine. They've gotten to a place where
they've announced a clinical trial.

Can you shed light on who and where worked on this? Are they using 'attenuated' virus?
The AIDS virus has spikes, yes?, that attach the virus to a cell where the virus can replicate, this is similar to how the corona virus works? Is the idea to focus on that part of the virus? Did the research that was done on sars, get used here, what changed btwn the viruses that meant a new vaccine needed to be developed?
i understand this new branch of the virus has not been studied (due to it's newness) like sars, but it's genome
has been determined, those changes are what made this infection way worse.

also , more talk of an anti-viral treatment for folks already infected. The anti-viral was developed previously
and has shown to be effective as a treatment? In trials, for other viral infections? Does it work like an antibiotic ?
Does it stimulate the immune system to create viral antibodies?

more virus talk w/pat

thx for your sharing, pat

[Goat Rock Ukulele]

The first vaccine is being tested in Washington state. (China has been testing for a couple weeks I believe) It is made by Moderna. Its a mRNA vaccine. You can read more about their platform on their website. Posted below is a brief description of Messenger RNA.
They don't use the actual virus in their vaccine. They use part of the viruses RNA in combination with something else to provoke an immune response. it's not as simple as that but I believe that is pretty much how it works.

Remdesivir is not a vaccine. It's an antiviral . I follow as closely as I can the stage 3 human trials but it is not possible to know what the outcome will be. The most promising result I have heard from previous studies is the trial they did with rhesus monkeys, they gave 8 monkeys Remdesivir and 8 monkeys nothing. They were then exposed to MERS a very close cousin of Covid-19. All 8 that were given Remdisivir remained healthy, the eight that were not all came down with MERS. So given as a prophylactic it would seem likely it is very effective. This is huge because if one family member comes down with Covid-19 its almost assured the rest of the family will get it. China found they had to take the infected family member out of the home if they tested positive. You weren't even allowed to go home. Right now Remdesivir is only being given on a compassionate basis. That is a very very high hurdle because patients are on deaths door with little hope of recovery and failing organs. Without a therapeutic most will die. I believe we will know around the first of April if this drug is going to be an effective treatment. Obviously it will work better if administered early in the course of the disease. It's administered IV. Or even as a prophylactic after you have been exposed but not yet sick as in a family situation.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a single-stranded RNA molecule that corresponds to the genetic sequence of a gene and is read by the ribosome in the process of producing a protein. mRNA is created during the process of transcription, where the enzyme RNA polymerase converts genes into primary transcript mRNA (also known as pre-mRNA). This pre-mRNA usually still contains introns, regions that will not go on to code for the final amino acid sequence. These are removed in the process of RNA splicing, leaving only exons, regions that will encode the protein. This exon sequence constitutes mature mRNA. Mature mRNA is then read by the ribosome, and, utilising amino acids carried by transfer RNA (tRNA), the ribosome creates the protein. This process is known as translation. All of these processes form part of the central dogma of molecular biology, which describes the flow of genetic information in a biological system.
Like in DNA, mRNA genetic information is in the sequence of nucleotides, which are arranged into codons consisting of three base pairs each. Each codon codes for a specific amino acid, except the stop codons, which terminate protein synthesis. This process of translation of codons into amino acids requires two other types of RNA: transfer RNA, which recognises the codon and provides the corresponding amino acid, and ribosomal RNA (rRNA), the central component of the ribosome's protein-manufacturing machinery.

[M/M]

Kaiser Permanente in Washington state is asking for volunteers for their new vaccine... Kaiser Permanente launches first coronavirus vaccine trial: Lisa A. Jackson, MD, MPH - Senior Investigator Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
https://www.kpwashingtonresearch.org/news-and-events/recent-news/news-2020/kaiser-permanente-launches-coronavirus-vaccine-study-seattle

The investigational vaccine is called mRNA-1273 and made by Moderna. The vaccine is made using a new process that is much faster than older methods of making vaccines. It does not contain any part of the actual coronavirus and cannot cause infection. Instead, it includes a short segment of messenger RNA that is made in a lab.

Yes, all viruses enter the cells of tissues or organs that they target in order to replicate.