BEIJING, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Linqi wished he could work 24-hour relentlessly every day to conduct research on COVID-19.
With more than 30 years of experience in infectious disease research, Zhang led a team at Tsinghua University to work on the drugs and vaccine for COVID-19.
They face an extremely heavy workload including analyzing experiment results, designing new experiments, coordinating with other Chinese institutions and exchanging ideas with foreign partners through video conference.
"My mind is wholly occupied with the research on COVID-19, and we dare not slack off for a moment in the race against the virus," Zhang said.
Zhang's team studied the mechanism of the virus' invasion into host cells at the atomic level, providing a better understanding of viral infection mechanisms and unveiling a more precise and focused target for vaccine development. They are adopting a genetic engineering method for the design of vaccines.
Zhang said although the research and development cycle of vaccines usually takes a long period of time, he believes the application of new technologies, plus the demand for emergency use in outbreaks of infectious diseases will fasten the speed of vaccine development.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, several Chinese research teams have dedicated to vaccine development and adopted multiple technological approaches.
Xu Nanping, Vice Minister of Science and Technology, said the earliest vaccine is expected to apply for clinical trials in late April, adding that the vaccine development in China is at a similar stage to international efforts.
Researchers from the Academy of Military Medical Sciences are working on a recombinant vaccine. Chen Wei, the leader of the team, said that they strive to put the vaccine into clinical application in the shortest time, so as to provide strong scientific and technological support for winning this battle against the epidemic.
Chen said despite possible mutations of the virus, common target antigens, pathogenesis or receptors can be found through bioinformatics and big data mining, which can help improve the design of the vaccine.
Another team from the Institute of Microbiology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences is harnessing previous experience in the development of a vaccine for MERS in the past few years and applying similar strategies and methods in the design of the vaccine for COVID-19.
As the vaccines have to be tested first on animals, researchers have quickly established mouse and monkey models for the novel coronavirus.
Researchers from the Institute of Laboratory Animals Science under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences have coordinated with other institutions to develop the models by using genetically modified mice and monkeys.
Currently, six types of vaccines are being evaluated with these animal models, which are selected according to different immune characteristics of each vaccine, said Qin Chuan from the institute.
To speed up vaccine research and development, China is coordinating efforts from research institutions and enterprises.
The biotech company Stemirna Therapeutics has launched a program with the Shanghai East Hospital of Tongji University to develop an mRNA vaccine, which has the advantage of a shorter development and production cycle.
Li Hangwen, CEO of Stemirna Therapeutics, said the company has maintained close cooperation with several research institutions.
Researchers from the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention have helped them by providing a genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus and unveiling possible antigens, Li said.
"With that 'blueprint,' we optimized the sequence and began to synthesize mRNA vaccine samples. We have tested 12 samples on animals and carried out necessary preclinical experiments," Li said.
Chinese officials and experts have also highlighted the need to respect scientific principles and strictly follow standards to ensure the safety and quality of the vaccine.
Zheng Zhongwei, director of the Development Center for Medical Science and Technology of the National Health Commission, said China's research and development of vaccines is carried out according to laws and technical requirements, and Chinese researchers have maintained communication with the World Health Organization on the standard of vaccines.
Zeng Yixin, deputy director of the National Health Commission, said under the premise of ensuring safety, effectiveness and accessibility, the emergency use of vaccines, as well as the emergency review and approval process, can be activated in accordance with laws.
