Engineering antibodies to outwit viruses : Project Accelerate takes on the challenge

Abstract

Vaccines are very good at preventing infections from becoming severe. Case in point are the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines which effectively brought the world out of lockdown. Despite receiving all doses of a vaccine, however, immunocompromised individuals may not be protected, putting them at risk of developing severe infections. Prof. David Saliba, associate professor at the University of Malta’s (UM) Department of Applied Biomedical Science, explains how his research group is using bacteriophages to engineer antibodies which can provide passive immunity against infectious diseases.