Virtually piecing together a coronavirus vaccine

In a bid to find a coronavirus vaccine, scientists can “play Legos with proteins,” says Neil King, a University of Washington researcher who has been hunting for a coronavirus vaccine since 2017. He’s using synthetic biology to virtually assemble potential vaccines for the rapidly spreading pathogen.

The hope is that in silico design could help scientists engineer vaccines quickly — and potentially in a manner that can be responsive to viral mutations, STAT’s Sharon Begley writes. Researchers are designing new, self-assembling protein nanoparticles studded with antigens. The idea is that these newer models could be more potent than traditional viral vaccines.