Brazilian research to fight the SARS-Cov-2 pandemia
The SARS-Cov-2 pandemia mobilized several research teams in Brazil. The São Paulo state funding agency, FAPESP, is continuously updating the Brazilian scientific research task force towards the better understanding the virus and the search for medical treatments. During the last weeks, several news appeared in the Agência FAPESP News. Selected topics are the following.
Scanning electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2 (yellow), isolated from a patient, emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab (image: NIAD / HIH)
New coronavirus is produced in Brazilian laboratory
Strategy pursued in developing Ebola vaccine could be used to produce COVID-19 vaccine
In animal testing, experimental Ebola vaccine based on platform developed by US pharmaceutical company in partnership with Brazilian researchers conferred immunity against hemorrhagic virus with single dose (image: Wikimedia Commons).
FAPESP will fund research to combat COVID-19
Researchers, small businesses and startups will receive BRL 30 million for projects to develop diagnostic kits, therapies and therapeutic procedures, ventilators, personal protective equipment for health workers and solutions for health services, among others (image: TPHeinz / Pixabay).
Brazilian scientists are developing a vaccine against the new coronavirus
Using a novel technological platform, researchers at the University of São Paulo plan to produce a candidate vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 for testing in animals in the next few months (image representing a VLP conjugated with an antigen / adapted from an illustration to an article published by the research group in the journal Vaccines in July 2019).