Kizzmekia Corbett - December 2, 2020

Kizzmekia Corbett, PhD, Senior Research Fellow and Scientific Lead, Coronavirus Vaccines & Immunopathogenesis Team, Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory, Vaccine Research Center, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, United States, "SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine design enabled by prototype pathogen preparedness"

Dr. Corbett’s work is focused on coronaviruses, especially those which have pandemic potential in humans. Prior to the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, their group worked on a proof-of-concept study of their prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness. They used the MERS virus in this study with the idea that this “plug and play” approach could provide fast, reliable and universal vaccine solutions. In this case, the viral spike protein, which is crucial for viral entry into host cells, was used as the antigen. By introducing a two proline mutation into the spike protein, the protein is stabilized and elicits an improved neutralizing antibody response in comparison to the native conformation. In collaboration, Dr. Corbett’s group used Moderna’s mRNA platform to deliver the spike protein antigen and were able to show only 37 days following the release of the viral sequence from China that the prototype vaccine showed immunogenicity in mice. From there, Phase I clinical trials were started 66 days from the sequence release. As of today, the Phase III clinical trials for mRNA-1273 from Moderna have been completed and shown to stimulate neutralizing antibody responses in young and old adult patient cohorts. These studies demonstrate the rapidness with which this vaccine design can be developed and provide platforms by which future vaccines can be implemented rapidly and safely.