600 lives have been lost and more than 30,000 people have been infected by the novel Coronavirus, while scientists and governments race against time to find and cure and curb this abomination.
Australia has made a definitive breakthrough in this endeavour, as a team led by an Indian scientist has succeeded in growing the first batch of the virus with sufficient stock for forthcoming studies.
Professor SS Vasan was in charge of the team that created the first batch of the virus. It was developed in a high-security lab at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), as per reports.
A human sample was utilised to isolate the virus by researchers at Australia’s Doherty Institute. However, concerning the scale needed to conduct preclinical trials, the growth of this virus at the CSIRO is of paramount importance.
A BITS Pilani and IISc-Bengaluru alumnus, Vasan stated that it is quicker to perform ‘preclinical studies on the relative efficacy of vaccine candidates under development,’ with the real isolated virus.
Diagnostics, surveillance, and response carried out by his colleagues at the Animal Health Laboratory in Australia was also publicly shared by Vasan.
“Another part of the CSIRO (Manufacturing) is supporting the scale-up of vaccine antigens being developed by the University of Queensland,” Vasan stated.
Having previously worked on dengue, zika and chikungunya, Vasan believes that the studies should now accelerate the development and evaluation of therapeutics to compliment vaccines. Increasing the virus stock for preclinical studies will be the principal focus of the lab in CSIRO.