https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2021/08/university-universal-vaccine * The Daily Tar Heel * University * City * State * Sports * Arts & Culture * Opinion * Elevate * Donate * * University University Student Life Administration Faculty UNC System * City City & County Chapel Hill Carrboro Education Public Safety * State * Sports Sports Men's Basketball Women's Basketball Baseball Softball Track and Field Men's Tennis Women's Tennis Golf Men's Lacrosse Women's Lacrosse Swimming and Diving Fencing Gymnastics Rowing * Arts & Culture Arts & Culture Entertainment Food * Opinion Opinion Editorials Cartoons Columns Letters Kvetching * Multimedia Multimedia Video Galleries Podcasts * Elevate * About About Hiring Board of Directors Alumni Corrections Contact Meet the editors Policies & Bylaws * Advertise Advertise Policies Events Calendar Celebrations Obituaries * Donate * Story Collections * HeelsHousing * Shop * Buy Photos * 1893 Brand Studio * Alumni * Events Calendar * Celebrations/Obits Celebrations Obituaries * Southern Neighbor * Newsletter * Classifieds * Feeds The Daily Tar Heel Serving the students and the University community since 1893 degF Thursday August 26th --------------------------------------------------------------------- * * * * News UNC researchers develop universal COVID vaccine with the potential to protect against variants UNC Hospitals pictured on Monday, August 16th, 2021. Buy Photos Photo by Ashlyn Rhyne | The Daily Tar Heel UNC Hospitals pictured on Monday, August 16th, 2021. By Jackson Moseley August 22, 2021 | 8:45pm EDT * * * * As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, researchers in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health have developed a new universal coronavirus vaccine, with the potential to protect against multiple coronaviruses, as well as the different variants of COVID-19. David Martinez, a Hanna H. Gray Fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and one of the lead authors of the study, explained what makes the research unique. "Our vaccine is really different than the original vaccines in that it aims to not only protect against COVID-19 and some of the variants of concern, but our vaccine can actually protect against the original SARS coronavirus from 2003, as well as close cousins that circulate in bats, for example," Martinez said. According to Martinez, this universal coronavirus vaccine functions similarly to the mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. However, instead of administering the mRNA code for one spike protein, this vaccine administers the mRNA code for four different spike proteins at the same time. "The only difference is that we've generated spikes that are really designed in a way to maximize the breadth of the immune responses," Martinez said. The development of this universal coronavirus vaccine began in spring 2020. Around that time, Martinez and Ralph Baric, the other lead author of the study and an epidemiologist at the Public Health School, began thinking about different ways to engineer spike vaccines to have more immune recognition. The vaccines were physically produced in June 2020, but they were not shipped to begin testing on animal models until November, due to pandemic delays. Dr. Myron Cohen, the director of the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, said that if a vaccine such as this were to be approved and made available to the public, it would essentially replace the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. "If there was one universal coronavirus vaccine that protected against all coronaviruses that exist, or that might exist, that would become a pretty important tool," Cohen said. Osahon Iyamu, a senior majoring in neuroscience and chemistry, works in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Ecology Lab. He said universal vaccine technology could have application beyond coronaviruses. "I think this new universal vaccine that the Public Health School has been working on has been really groundbreaking in terms of how it's able to help kind of curb the spread with other variants that exist with the same mRNA technology," Iyamu said. The vaccine is still in the preclinical stage and has not yet been tested on human subjects, so it will likely be a while before it is available to the public, Martinez said. In the meantime, however, Martinez explained how people can still take measures to prevent the spread of the virus. "We have to remain vigilant -- by no means is the pandemic over," Martinez said. "Get fully vaccinated as quickly as possible to reduce the risk of potentially becoming ill with some of these more transmissible variants, like the delta variant." Iyamu said he is optimistic for this school year, but that students need to take the necessary precautions to limit the spread of the virus. "Most of all, I want students to just enjoy the year, being on campus as much as they can, while being safe," he said. "Just be mindful of yourself and other people around you." university@dailytarheel.com To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters. SUBSCRIBE NOW --------------------------------------------------------------------- Next up in Research and Development * UNC-affiliated startup develops treatment to advance gene therapies * Chapel Hill Town Council to vote on MLK development that could threaten mobile home park * Wegmans development pushes ahead, concern from nearby neighborhood * SPONSOREDCarolinasDentist Dr. Josh Zukerman comes full circle to serve the UNC community Next up in University * 'Pa'lante': Carolina Latinx Center hosts open house to kick-off academic year * 'Operating in a state of fear': Faculty petitions for 4-6 weeks of remote instruction * NANDO's Donuts, a 'bright spot' in Chapel Hill, set to reopen in September Next up in COVID-19 Vaccine * Editorial: The feasibility of UNC mandating COVID-19 vaccines * Editorial: UNC going virtual is inevitable * COVID-19 testing, vaccine and mask requirements for the fall 2021 semester --------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments Tweets by dailytarheel Latest Print Edition Print Edition Print Archive Welcome Back Edition 2021 Special Print Edition Games & Horoscopes Print Edition Games Archive The Daily Tar Heel * University * Student Life * Administration * Faculty * Higher Education * City & State * Chapel Hill * Carrboro * Education * Public Safety * Arts & Culture * Entertainment * Food * Sports * Football * Men's Basketball * Women's Basketball * Cross Country * Golf * Men's Soccer * Women's Soccer * Swimming and Diving * Men's Tennis * Women's Tennis * Field Hockey * Rowing * Volleyball * Opinion * Editorials * Cartoons * Columns * Letters * Multimedia * Video * The Upside * Galleries * Audio * Story Collections * Donate * About * Hiring * Board of Directors * Alumni * Corrections * Contact * Policies & Bylaws * Advertise * Events Calendar * Celebrations * Obituaries * Subscribe * Feeds * Heels Housing * Shop * Buy Photos * 1893 Brand Studio * Southern Neighbor * Classifieds * * * * * All rights reserved (c) 2021 The Daily Tar Heel Powered by [SNworks] Solutions by The State News Buy your Roy Williams commemorative edition x [266901f4-6] Buy your copy of the DTH's commemorative Roy Williams edition today. 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