New research could help solve major challenge in the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines
New research by University of Texas at Dallas scientists could help solve a major challenge in the deployment of certain COVID-19 vaccines worldwide the need for the vaccines to be kept at below-freezing temperatures during transport and storage.
In a study published online April 13 in
Nature Communications, the researchers demonstrate a new, inexpensive technique that generates crystalline exoskeletons around delicate liposomes and other lipid nanoparticles and stabilizes them at room temperature for an extended period up to two months in their proof-of-concept experiments.
The Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines use lipid nanoparticles basically spheres of fat molecules to protect and deliver the messenger RNA that generates a vaccine recipient s immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
This illustration depicts a proteoliposome a spherical bilayer of fat molecules (white and blue) stabilized in a structure called a zeolitic-imidazole framework composed of zinc acetate and methylimidazole. Inserted into the lipid bilayer which mimics a cell membrane are modeled structures of CopA proteins, with a section (in pink) that resides inside the lipid and sections above the lipid surface (brown) and slightly inside the liposome (also brown, but inside). Credit: University of Texas at Dallas Read Time:
New research by University of Texas at Dallas scientists could help solve a major challenge in the deployment of certain COVID-19 vaccines worldwide the need for the vaccines to be kept at below-freezing temperatures during transport and storage.
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IMAGE: University of Texas at Dallas scientists developed a method to stabilize liposomes in a crystalline exoskeleton, which allows the biomolecules to remain stable at room temperature. This illustration depicts a. view more
Credit: University of Texas at Dallas
New research by University of Texas at Dallas scientists could help solve a major challenge in the deployment of certain COVID-19 vaccines worldwide the need for the vaccines to be kept at below-freezing temperatures during transport and storage.
In a study published online April 13 in
Nature Communications, the researchers demonstrate a new, inexpensive technique that generates crystalline exoskeletons around delicate liposomes and other lipid nanoparticles and stabilizes them at room temperature for an extended period up to two months in their proof-of-concept experiments.