Singapore team shoots for new mRNA vaccines that work in smaller doses and are cheaper to make

A Singapore team of researchers is working on the next generation of mRNA vaccines that could have doses up to 100 times smaller than current ones and be cheaper to manufacture. Some of the production technology advances will hinge on changing the shape of the genetic material in mRNA vaccines – the technology used in Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines – with the researchers looking at replacing the use of straight strands of RNA in favour of the more stable circular RNA. The Agency of Science, Technology and Research announced that a team from its Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and Institute of Bioengineering and Bioimaging, together with the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, has been awarded a contract from an international health tech programme to manufacture circular RNA for mRNA vaccines. The team is the only one from Asia, out of 17 teams worldwide, to be awarded...