VNR: UH researcher’s team helps create vaccine for COVID-19

Axel Lehrer

Link to video and sound (details below): https://bit.ly/2y3bbTm 

WHO:  University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa scientist Axel Lehrer, assistant professor at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM).

WHY:  To develop a vaccine to combat the global spread of COVID-19.

WHAT:  In collaboration with New Jersey-based biopharmaceutical company Soligenix, Inc., Lehrer is developing potential coronavirus vaccines, including one for the novel COVID-19 disease. 

WHEN:  If development is successful, the vaccine could be ready for human trials in six to nine months.

HOW:  Lehrer is using the same technology platform that was successfully used to develop an Ebola virus vaccine that is thermostable, can maintain its potency for at least 12 weeks at 104 degrees Fahrenheit and can be produced in mass quantities.

OTHER FACTS:

• In contrast to other coronavirus vaccines that use an RNA-based approach that is quicker to test in humans, the recombinant subunit vaccine Lehrer is developing uses a conventional approach using antigens that make you more resistant to the virus for longer periods and is also used for many proven vaccines currently on the market.
   

• The next stage in the development process for the vaccine is to conduct test trials in small animals, which will commence in the next few weeks.
   

• Lehrer works in collaboration with about a dozen lab colleagues in the  Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology at JABSOM.
   

• Hawaii Biotech Inc., is a Hawaii-based biopharmaceutical company and another collaborator on the project.

Link to video and sound (details below): https://bit.ly/2y3bbTm 
 

BROLL: 

(1 minute 16 seconds)

0:00-0:51: Lehrer working in a lab

0:51-1:14: John A. Burns School of Medicine Biosciences building

1:14-1:16: photos of Lehrer in a lab

SOUND:

Axel Lehrer, JABSOM scientist
(15 seconds)
“Our vaccine will allow mass vaccinations where you can very quickly generate the type of herd immunity that will be the only way how this virus can be stopped.” 

Lehrer
(16 seconds)
“It can be used in any person, in immunocompromised people, in the eldery and in small children. The safety margin is very good and that’s why we believe that it could be a major contribution to the field.”