Thai Rath Edition
April 4, 2022 07:39 a.m.
Dr. Anan Chongkaewwatana, Director of Animal Health and Management Innovation Research Group National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (biotech– NSTDA) revealed that in order for Thailand to cope with the outbreak ofCovid-19 effectively The research team has applied their expertise in developing a “Pseudotyped Virus” or “surrogate virus” that has the same infective mechanism as a real virus. but through the adjustment of properties that do not cause harm to humans This is a technology recognized by the World Health Organization for its effectiveness and safety. Including being widely used at present, it was successfully developed for the first time in Thailand. The technology developed by the research team can be used to produce a virus that represents the virus that causes COVID-19. from the genetic code of all species
Dr. Anan continued that A surrogate virus is a technology created to mimic the COVID-19 virus. This is because SARS-CoV-2 is known to use proteins in the spines to capture and enter cells. The research team then placed the viral spike protein SARS-CoV-2 in another virus that was safe and noninvasive. The representative virus is characterized by
1. Help researchers to be proactive When a mutation of the COVID-19 virus was discovered Researchers can then use the genetic code to create a surrogate virus for immediate use. It is not necessary to wait for that strain to be infected in the country and then isolate it from the patient.
3. Fast test In contrast to the actual virus, which takes 5-6 days, surrogate cellular changes can be clearly demonstrated within 48 hours. In addition, up to 90 surrogate assays can be performed at a time, while viral assays are able to show cellular changes clearly within 48 hours. The real thing can only do 6 samples at a time.
4. Producing large quantities in a short time, allowing enough virus to be tested. And finally, it can reduce operating costs by up to 20-30 times.
“Biotech has broughtsurrogate virusCome to provide research and development of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country, including testing the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccine. with domestic injection Testing the COVID-19 vaccination regimen for different groups of individuals and testing the efficacy of vaccinesCovid-19 produced in the country such as the Chula-CoV-19 vaccine, the prescription vaccine and the HXP-GPOVac vaccine,” said Dr. Anan.
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