In episode 10 of our COVID19 Road to a vaccine series, our host, Nigel Crawford, speaks with Professors Paul Young and Trent Munro to discuss the University of Queensland (UQ) COVID-19 vaccine candidate. UQ and CEPI (the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation) have partnered with CSL (Seqirus) to advance their novel molecular clamp technology to develop their vaccine for COVID-19. This vaccine has recently progressed to Phase 1 clinical trials. In this episode they discuss:

•The University of Queensland COVID19 vaccine development process
•The involvement of CEPI in their trial
•The use of a molecular clamp platform in the development of their protein SARS-CoV-2 vaccine
•Results of their preclinical trials
•Their partnership with CSL/Seqirus and the use of the MF59 adjuvant
•The timeline of their clinical trials and the upcoming steps

Links:

CEPI partners with University of Queensland to create rapid response vaccines:
https://cepi.net/news_cepi/cepi-partners-with-university-of-queensland-to-create-rapid-response-vaccines/

Dosing begins in the first human trial of UQ’s COVID-19 vaccine
https://stories.uq.edu.au/news/2020/first-human-trial-of-UQs-COVID-19-vaccine/index.html

The University of Queensland, CEPI and CSL partner to advance development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccine candidate:
https://www.csl.com/news/2020/20200605-uq-cepi-and-csl-partner-for-covid-19-vaccine-candidate