WIDER NET: By removing certain elements from the virus’ surface, an Academia Sinica team managed to develop a vaccine that made mice immune to more strains of the flu
Taipei Times
Date: Feb 24, 2019
By: Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter
Academia Sinica researchers have developed a “more potent” vaccine against cross-strain influenza
A researcher takes a sample from an egg in an undated handout photograph.Photo courtesy of Academia Sinica
viruses using chicken eggs, the institution said yesterday, adding that the technology has been sold to a transnational pharmaceutical firm.
Due to the variability of the flu virus, which alters its surface proteins, vaccines are only effective against closely matched virus strains and must be regularly updated, which is a headache for vaccine developers, the team said in a news release.
Led by Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠), a distinguished research fellow, and Alex Ma (馬徹), an associate research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Genomics Research Center, the team used the eggs to produce monoglycosylated inactivated split H1N1 virus vaccine, which induced better immune responses on mice.
The new vaccine is expected to be three of four times more effective than traditional flu vaccines, the researchers said. [FULL STORY]
