The missing piece in finding a vaccine: bioinformatics

Genetics research from Macquarie University could help pinpoint the ideal strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus for vaccine development As scientists race to develop a vaccine for the new virus known as SARS-CoV-2, new research from Macquarie University Associate Professor Denis Bauer and her colleagues explores how the virus is mutating – and how severe the different versions of the virus could be. It is important data, because researchers must choose which coronavirus strain to validate animal models with, as this will be used to test vaccines that eventually go into humans. “A successful vaccine should protect against the virus strains that are most representative of the ones most likely to be in high circulation in the future,” says Dr Bauer, an Honorary Associate Professor at Macquarie University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Science. Dr Bauer is a bioinformatician leading a group at the CSIRO, where her team has spent years developing computer models that...