![]() ![]() Traditional vaccines against viruses like influenza inject inactivated virus proteins called antigens. Armed with innovative research on the fundamentals of RNA, scientists are better able to develop and test therapeutics that directly target the RNAs and processes critical to a virus’s life cycle. That means novel virus treatments and vaccines have to be created each time a new strain of virus presents itself. One of the reasons viruses are such a challenge is that they change and mutate in response to drugs. “Once the virus is in our cells, the entire process of infection and re-infection depends on the viral RNA,” Maquat says. The virus assembles new copies of itself and spreads to more parts of the body and-by way of saliva, sweat, and other bodily fluids-to other humans. Our hijacked cells serve as virus factories, reading the virus’s RNA and making long viral proteins to compromise the immune system. Once the virus is inside our cells, it releases its RNA. “We are surrounded by outstanding researchers who enhance our understanding of RNA biology, and a medical center that provides a translational aspect where the knowledge gained from RNA biology can be applied for therapeutics.” How does RNA relate to disease?Ī graphic created by the New York Times illustrates how the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 enters the body through the nose, mouth, or eyes and attaches to our cells. “Our strength as a university is our diversity of research expertise, combined with our highly collaborative nature,” says Dragony Fu, an associate professor of biology on the River Campus and a member of the Center for RNA Biology. The Center involves researchers from both the River Campus and the Medical Center, combining expertise in biology, chemistry, engineering, neurology, and pharmacology. In 2007, Maquat founded The Center for RNA Biology as a means of conducting interdisciplinary research in the function, structure, and processing of RNAs. “The University of Rochester understood this.” In the past few decades, as scientists came to realize that genetic material is largely regulated by the RNA it encodes, that most of our DNA produces RNA, and that RNA is not only a target but also a tool for disease therapies, “the RNA research world has exploded,” Maquat says. What does Covid stand for?Ĭovid-19 stands for “coronavirus disease 2019.” RNA delivers the genetic instructions contained in DNA to the rest of the cell. “Understanding RNA structure and function helps us understand how to throw a therapeutic wrench into what the COVID-19 RNA does-make new virus that can infect more of our cells and also the cells of other human beings,” Maquat says. This RNA research provides an important foundation for developing vaccines and other drugs and therapeutics to disrupt the virus and stop infections. The viral RNA is sneaky: its features cause the protein synthesis machinery in humans to mistake it for RNA produced by our own DNA.įor that reason, several of the leading COVID-19 vaccines and treatments are based on RNA technology.Ī contingent of researchers at the University of Rochester study the RNA of viruses to better understand how RNAs work and how they are involved in diseases. This means that, unlike in humans and other mammals, the genetic material for SARS-CoV-2 is encoded in ribonucleic acid (RNA). Like many other viruses, SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus. ![]() ![]() Lowell Orbison Distinguished Service Alumni Professor in biochemistry and biophysics, oncology, and pediatrics at Rochester and the director of Rochester’s Center for RNA Biology.ĬOVID-19, short for “coronavirus disease 2019,” is caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. “The development of RNA vaccines is a great boon to the future of treating infectious diseases,” says Lynne Maquat, the J. The vaccine made history not only because it reported a 95 percent efficacy rate at preventing COVID-19 in clinical trials, but because it is the first vaccine ever approved by the FDA for human use that is based on RNA technology. The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech. Rochester research into RNA structure and function provides key information for developing coronavirus treatments. MHRA 'DNA', All Acronyms, 15 June 2023, Bluebook All Acronyms, DNA (Jun. DNA, All Acronyms, viewed June 15, 2023, MLA All Acronyms. Retrieved June 15, 2023, from Chicago All Acronyms. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Quote Copy APA All Acronyms. ![]()
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