The process of complex coacervation keeps viruses in vaccine solutions stable by crowding them tightly together, reducing the need for refrigeration.
Graphic Credit: Caryn Heldt and Sarah Perry
Half of vaccines are wasted annually because they aren’t kept cold. Chemical engineers have discovered a way to stabilize viruses in vaccines with proteins instead of temperature.
Ever receive a vaccination that seemed to burn while it was injected? The vaccine solution likely contained a lot of salt or sugar — natural preservatives that help keep it stable, in addition to the cold temperature at which it was kept.
The viruses in vaccines, which train our cells to identify and vanquish viral invaders, must be kept cold to keep them from bursting apart. The typical shipping temperature for vaccines ranges from 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (35 to 47 degrees Fahrenheit).
Viruses are kept cold for the same reason we refrigerate food items. “You wouldn’t take a steak and leave it out on your counter for any length of time and then eat it,” said Caryn Heldt, director of the Health Research Institute at Michigan Technological University and professor of chemical engineering. “A steak has the same stability issues — it has proteins, fats, and other molecules that, in order to keep them stable, we need to keep them cold.”
Like proteins, viruses unfold when it’s hot or there’s space to move around. Heat provides energy for viruses to shake themselves apart, and not being crowded gives them the room to fall apart. Stable vaccines need cold or crowding.
But what if cold storage isn’t available? What if someone accidentally leaves the package on the counter? What if the power goes out?
Heldt, together with Sarah Perry, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has developed a way to mimic the body’s environment in vaccines using a process called complex coacervation. Rather than relying on refrigeration, Perry and Heldt tap the other method to keep viruses stable — crowding.
Freezer Camp
To keep the viruses in vaccines stable, everyone along the supply chain, from manufacturing facility to shipping company to doctor’s office, must maintain the cold temperature. This cooperative effort is known as the cold chain. If a vaccine is kept above that temperature range for even an hour, it may become ruined and unusable.
The World Health Organization estimates that up to 50% of vaccines are wasted every year because the cold chain and ideal temperature for storage cannot be maintained.
The human body is a crowded place. Cells of varying shapes and sizes jockey for position. This includes viruses, which do their nefarious work by hostile takeover. Viruses invade our cells, commandeering them to replicate. Unchecked, virus copies explode out of the cells like darts through a balloon. Then all of those replicas go and do the same to other cells — and before you know it, you’re sick.
Heldt researches vaccine manufacturing techniques and the COVID-19 pandemic has served as a masterclass. But SARS-CoV-2 isn’t the only virus in the world — there is still need for other vaccines and storage methods that don’t rely on refrigeration.
“The conditions for a vaccine that make it good to be injected into someone’s body are almost the opposite of what makes a virus stable,” Heldt said. “There’s a really hard trade-off of keeping the virus stable to get good immune response, while having the right components in the vaccine that are safe to inject.”
Virus Burritos
Heldt and Perry use polypeptides — synthetic proteins — that have positive or negative charges. When these charged peptides are put in solution, they stick together and form a separate liquid phase, a process called complex coacervation. The liquid wraps around virus capsids, holding the virus material together like a burrito’s tortilla.
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Complex coacervation
- Top 8 Best B Complex Supplements in 2024
B complex supplements comprise a range of B vitamins, including thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, biotin, folic acid, and cobalamin. B complex supplements are popular ...
- Why this campus turmoil story is so complex
The nuance and history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains difficult to capture succinctly, particularly during escalating turmoil among groups with deep-held — and entrenched — views ...
- Fire at Manchester apartment complex under investigation
A fire at an apartment complex in Manchester was under investigation.Firefighters responded to the Halstead Countryside complex on Village Circle Way around 10:50 p.m. Thursday night.Several ...
- Trump ‘hush money’ prosecutors admit entire case rests on proving complex ‘conspiracy’ centered around the 2016 election
Prosecutors at Donald Trump’s hush money trial Tuesday let slip their “entire case” rests on a legal theory he was part of a “conspiracy” to corrupt the 2016 election. The presumptive ...
- Man fatally shot in chest at Brookhaven apartment complex
A man died Sunday morning after being shot in the chest at an apartment complex in Brookhaven, according to authorities. Police responded just before 4:30 a.m. to the Villas at Druid Hills ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Complex coacervation
[google_news title=”” keyword=”complex coacervation” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Vaccine storage
- Adult RSV Shots Given to More Than 30 Babies by Mistake
Nearly three dozen babies and young children have received respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines, which are only approved for adults, according to a brief CDC report.
- Vietnam no longer uses AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19
Vietnam has for long not used the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 across the country, said a representative of the Drug Registration Division of the Drug Administration of Vietnam under the ...
- AstraZeneca Withdraws Covid Vaccine After 3 Billion Shots Administered — But Why?
AstraZeneca discontinues widely used COVID-19 vaccine due to surplus and emerging variants, citing declining demand and emerging alternatives amid rare side effects reports.
- AstraZeneca withdraws Covid-19 Vaccine
AstraZeneca Plc pulled its Covid-19 vaccine from the market due to lack of demand for a shot that initially raised hopes it would play a key role in protecting the world against the virus.The ...
- At request of AstraZeneca, Europe suspends marketing authorization of COVID vaccine Vaxzevria
the company abandoned its efforts to gain approval of the shot in the U.S. The vaccine was the preferred shot in many of the world’s poorer nations because it was cheaper to manufacture and to ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Vaccine storage
[google_news title=”” keyword=”vaccine storage” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]