Few astounding facts which will be table stakes for the future
- The digital copy of the virus from China reached America even before the biological/physical copy of the virus on Jan 11 thanks to the advances of Genomic Sequencing Tecnology
- Moderna was able to design a vaccine with just the digital copy without the actual physical copy in a matter of 48 hours
- The team at NIH and the team at Moderna had the exact same copy of the vaccine after they compared the results
- At the same time they started to make a clinical grade product that could go into Phase 1 trials
- The vaccine that was reviewed by FDA in December 17 was the exactly the same vaccine that was designed by Moderna in Jan
What is mRNA technology ?
Its a molecule that exists in everyones cells that is like a xerox copy of the instructions of your genome to one gene at a time to make protein.
When cells want to make insulin, it makes a zerox copy of the instructions from the DNA. Ribosome (like a 3D printer) will read the mRNA instructions and makes a protein adding one amino acid at a time.
How to use mRNA ?
Most viruses in life including COVID-19 contain mRNA. Through evolution mammals have developed mechanisms to recognize foreign mRNA. People abandoned and quit on trying to make mRNA as a drug. In 2010-2011, a set of academics at Harvard and MIT, played with mRNA. They believed that if you modify you can make an mRNA that is immunosilent.
1 Protein of the virus - spike protein - this is the instruction that is being passed through the mRNA technology in the vaccine. The cell knows then how to create this protein. Then the body knows that this foreign protein is in the body and starts making antibodies. The spike protein sticking out the cell mimicks the real virus and the immune system starts fighting it.
How to know the Spike protein ?
Spike is what the virus uses to get into the cells. Spike protein had been used to protect against MERS in animals.
Future mRNA verticals
- mRNA for Tumours
- mRNA for heart
- Vaccines
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