University of Bristol joins major £4million study to help develop coronavirus vaccine

By Filiz Emily Gurer, News Editor

The University of Bristol is to join with global partners in a major new international project to improve understanding of severe coronavirus infection in humans to help inform vaccine development.

Scientists from the University of Bristol will take part in the three-year international research project into coronavirus infection, which it is hoped will contribute towards the development of treatments for severe COVID-19 infections, projects to develop a vaccine and improved diagnostics.

The £4 million project, which is funded by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), involves expert physician scientists and academic experts across the fields of virology, immunology and translational medicine using cutting-edge research technologies.

The Bristol University team comprises Dr. David Matthews and Dr. Andrew Davidson, experts in the field of corona virology.

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Dr. David Matthews and Dr. Andrew Davidson will join collaborators from Public Health England, the University of Liverpool, the University of Oxford, A*STAR in Singapore, and King Fahd Medical City in Saudi Arabia, who also have teams working on the project.

Bristol’s Dr David Matthews and Dr Andrew Davidson will be investigating how SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV affect living cells upon infection to help develop a more detailed understanding of how these viruses cause disease in people, and how anti-virus drugs might work to slow the virus down.

Last month, UoB scientists announced that they had made a significant discovery into the structure and composition of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, offering the potential for the development of anti-viral medicines.

Featured image: University of Bristol

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