First multi-coronavirus vaccine enters human testing, built on UW Medicine technology
A new vaccine designed to protect against multiple coronaviruses, including COVID-19, has entered human clinical testing after being developed using technology from the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design.
The candidate vaccine, called GBP511, is being tested in an international Phase 1/2 trial led by South Korean pharmaceutical company SK bioscience, which previously partnered with UW on an approved COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine uses a computer-designed nanoparticle that displays pieces of four different coronaviruses to trigger a broad immune response. “GBP511 is the first vaccine to reach human testing that is intended to protect against multiple strains of the virus that causes COVID-19 as well as related coronaviruses with the potential to spark dangerous outbreaks,” said Neil King, deputy director of the Institute for Protein Design and co-inventor of the technology.
By targeting an entire family of coronaviruses, the approach represents a significant step toward globally scalable defenses against future outbreaks.
Pictured: Neil King, PhD, Deputy Director, Institute for Protein Design