COVID-19 Vaccine Innovation Could Dramatically Speed Up Worldwide Production

July 23, 2020 • by Marc Airhart

A redesigned version of the coronavirus spike protein called HexaPro might speed up vaccine production and yield a more effective immune response to SARS-CoV-2.

Two scientists in lab coats work at a lab bench.

Jason S. McLellan, associate professor of molecular biosciences, left, and graduate student Daniel Wrapp, right, work in the McLellan Lab at The University of Texas at Austin Monday Feb. 17, 2020.


An illustration of a coronavirus spike protein that has been modified to stay locked in a prefusion shape

This is a 3D atomic scale map, or molecular structure, of Hexapro, a modified version of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, described in a paper in the journal Science on July 23, 2020. Six key modifications, called prolines, are indicated as red and blue spheres and help lock the protein into the prefusion conformation, the shape it takes before infection. Illustration credit: University of Texas at Austin.

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